What was the most significant event on July 30 during the U.S. Civil War?

2017-07-31T19:58:03-04:00

In 1864 the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, VA costs many Federal lives and seemed similar to warfare in the trenches of Europe in 1916. Also in 1864, Gen Jubal Early raids Chambersburg, PA and extorts money from the town to pay for damage to the south.
In 1861 the “Richmond Enquirer published an account of a reporter who had visited wounded Union prisoners being held and cared for at the Richmond Almshouse. In general, the Enquirer's reporter is condescending towards the Union prisoners, but he singled out Elmer Ellworth's Fire Zouaves for special abuse.”
RICHMOND ENQUIRER, July 30, 1861: “Yesterday morning our reporter paid a visit to the City Alms House, where a number of the wounded, captured at Manassas, are now quartered. The Alms House is a large four story building, recently erected and completed with the exception of the plastering. It is situated on a commanding elevation in the northeastern portion of the city and affords from its windows and spacious porches a magnificent view of the surrounding country. It is most admirably adapted for a hospital, the use to which it is now put, as well on account of its interior arrangements as its salubrious situation. The wounded prisoners occupy the south end of the second story. Those seriously wounded are lying on mattresses, and, others who are slightly injured, sit on benches or walk up and down he porches as suits their pleasure. An air of neatness pervades the whole establishment, and the order is only broken by the occasional curses of a "Pet Lamb." With the exception of the New York Zouaves, the prisoners express regret at taking up arms against our people. Some say their newspapers and politicians had led them to believe that Southerners were semi-barbarous, and were preparing to overrun the North; others had been persuaded that the masses of the people here were held in subjection by a few unprincipled men, and desired the aid of the North to regain their independence; and many enlisted with the understanding that they would only be employed in the defence of Washington city. They are very grateful for the kind treatment they are receiving at our hands. But the Fire Zouaves are incorrigible. They seem perfectly oblivious to every sentiment of honor, gratitude or decency. They have nothing but the human form and faculty of speech to distinguish them from Gorillas.
No wonder the Astors and Coopers, of New York, contributed so liberally to their equipment, and urged them so earnestly to invade the South. They knew their brown stone fronts, marble palaces and plethoric warehouses rested on a foundation as insecure as the passions of this “glorious fighting material,” as Ellsworth termed them, which waited but the spark of some favorable event to fan into flames, fiercer than those that lit up the streets of Paris, and cast a lurid light over the thousand horrors of a French revolution. The New York “Herald” stated, a few weeks ago, that there were three hundred thousand just such men in the North as those composing the fire Zouave regiments, and insisted they should be organized into a “grand army,” to invade the South; and should, in the language of the Botany Bay Poet, “Leave their country for their country’s good.”
The sentiment of humanity, which finds no more capacious dwelling than a Southern heart, demands these Zouaves – debased, degraded and ungrateful as they are – should be taken care of in their present condition; but we would respectfully suggest that no such sentiment requires that our men should be compelled to occupy the same apartment with them, or what is tantamount to it, adjoining rooms, through the open doors of which they can hear abuse heaped upon our cause by the representatives from Blackwell’s Island, the Five Points, and other renowned school from whence Northern policy draws its deepest inspirations.
The Richmond Almshouse had been completed in 1860 and was intended to care for Richmond's poor and destitute in their final years. Before it could be put to that use, the war came and the building was repurposed as a hospital for wounded Union prisoners.
In 1862, the “Cincinnati Gazette is the first to use the term “copperhead” to describe “peace at any price” Democrats and those who don’t admit they are Southern sympathizers. As the year progresses, it will include the conservative wing of the northern Democrat party and others who oppose emancipation, the militia draft of 1862 and the financial legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and who do not want to see the war turned into a war to destroy the Old South rather than to restore the Union as it was. Of interest in this context is a letter President Lincoln wrote to a prominent New York financier on July 31st: “Broken eggs cannot be mended . . . This government cannot much longer play a game in which it stakes all, and its enemies stake nothing. Those enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt.” The financier was seemingly less impressed by this response than is McPherson.”

Pictures: 1864-07-30 Battle of the Crater – Mahone’s Counterattack; 1864-07-30 Recapture of the Crater; 1864-07-30 Battle of the Crater Map; 1862-07-30 copperheads

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 31 at 2017 8:01 PM

2017-07-31T20:01:28-04:00

Thursday, July 30, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln threatens retaliation to “head off the Confederate government's threat to execute captured Black troops and their White officers. Lincoln threatened to carry out an eye-for-an-eye retaliation for anything the Confederacy did to Union prisoners of war.
Executive Mansion, Washington D.C.: It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age.
The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession.
It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN”

Below are a number of journal entries from 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly
Wednesday, July 30, 1862: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal of his regiment’s movements in northern Mississippi: “Wednesday, 30th—We camped on a large "secesh" plantation last night. The owner of it being a general in the rebel army, we made ourselves at home, killing all the cattle that we wanted and taking all the honey that we could carry away with us. We started at 8 o’clock this morning and marched fourteen miles, when we bivouacked for the night.”
Wednesday, July 30, 1862: In New York City, George Templeton Strong—a Wall Street lawyer, a key figure in the NYC Republican Party, and a leading force for the Sanitary Commission—muses on the possibility of using black soldiers: “I greatly fear that we are on the eve of some vast calamity. Why in the name of anarchy and ruin doesn’t the President order the draft of one million fighting men at once and the liberation and arming of every able-bodied Sambo in Southronia? We shall perish unless the government begin singing in that very key. . . .”
Wednesday, July 30, 1862: A soldier of the 3rd New York Artillery Regiment writes home to the hometown newspaper in Seneca County of the dangerous situation with Rebel guerillas and bushwhackers near the Union-occupied town of Newbern, North Carolina: “A few nights since, the guard stationed in that position of the city most inhabited by fisherman and the poorer classes, was fired upon and severely wounded. The house was immediately surrounded, and its inmates, (seven men,) arrested and lodged in jail. The following day a strict search was instituted, which resulted in finding in it, and the adjoining houses, a quantity of fire arms, and a keg of powder. The buildings were soon demolished by the soldier mob. Since then all suspicious houses, have been searched, and over one hundred different styles of fire arms, found. One of the men arrested, acknowledges he fired the shot and has been recognized as a paroled soldier taken at Roanoke. Rumor says he is to be hung.
For a long time a roving band of guerrillas have been prowling about the country in the vicinity of our camp. (Bachelor’s Creek, seven miles west of Newbern, on the lines of the A.A.N.C.R.R.) and committing lawless depredations on the property of men known Union proclivities. The commanding officer of the post, after making several applications to Gen. FOSTER, received an order to "clean them out." . . . We were now in the vicinity of the "Rebs," and much caution was necessary. We had not proceeded far, when turning a short bend in the road, we came suddenly upon the post of the outer piquet. He was a brave fellow, and very cooly aimed his carbine at the Cavalry Sergeant, but the cap snapped without igniting the powder. . . . The house near by – the reported headquarters of the band – was surrounded and searched, but the bird had flown. An old man, however, was taken, who informed us that at the house of one French, a notorious rebel, two miles further up the road, were quartered a detachment of the 2d N.C. Cavalry. . . . Again we took up our lines of march at a rapid rout step, until within one hundred rods of the house, when Lieut. RANDOLPH, commanding the artillerymen, (then acting as infantry,) proceeded to the rear, while the cavalry and remaining infantry took the front.The attack was admirably planned, and reflects credit upon the officer in command. I venture to say men were never more surprised then were they when our cavalry and infantry came down upon them with one of those "awful yells," at a double quick. . . . many of them were run down by our cavalry, while the most obstinate ones were either killed, or wounded, but few escaping unharmed. The rout was complete as appearances at the house would indicate. . . .
The prisoners taken are withal, well informed men, and expressed no little surprise at the kind treatment they received at our hands. They are now in jail, and have, I understand, declined taking the oath of allegiance.
Thursday, July 30th, 1863 Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal: “It is quite hot and sultry. There is no news of importance. Colonel Hall has again taken command of our brigade. I bought a two-pound can of butter, paying $1.25, and five loaves of bread for fifty cents.”
Saturday, July 30th, 1864 Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal: “It is quite warm and sultry. We have a man like a child. He has been promised a furlough, and I believe that, if he could no, get it he would die. AU the wounded were able to take care of themselves on the way, are going home on thirty-day furloughs. Three from our company, Thomas R. Mo Connoll, John Zitler and John Hilton, are going. John Esher is not going until his wound gets better. A great many of the wounded men are dying, for the weather is so hot the wounds quickly mortify. No news from the front.”
Sunday, July 30th, 1865 Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal: “I went to church this morning and in the evening, went to visit friends, old and new.”

Pictures: 1864-07-30 Painting depicting the battle of the Crater; Civil War Cooking; 1863-07-30 The President's Order No. 252 - Harpers Weekly; 1863-07-30 confederate soldiers

A. Wednesday, July 30, 1862: Chattanooga Campaign: To protect his newly opened rail supply lines, US General Buell orders Colonel J. F. Miller in Nashville to build stockades “at every bridge or other important point occupied by troops on the road north of Nashville.” The stockades are to be held by a company of 20-40 men, with two companies at the crucial twin tunnels on the Louisville & Nashville line at Gallatin.
B. Thursday, July 30, 1863: On this date, President Abraham Lincoln issued General Order No. 252, an order of retaliation.
“It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of Nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color, in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person on account of his color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age.
“The Government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers; and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy’s prisoners in our possession. It is therefore ordered, that for every soldier of the United States, killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy, or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on public works, and continued at such labor, until the other shall be released, and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.”
These were harsh words. After calling out the South on their culture of barbarism, he threatened Old Testament-style retribution for crimes against black soldiers. But there was more to this than at first it seemed.
C. Saturday, July 30, 1864: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania - Nearly 2,600 Confederate cavalrymen halted on the outskirts of Chambersburg about 3:00 A.M. on July 30th. Their commander, Brig. Gen. John McCausland, carried written orders from Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early demanding from the citizens of this southern Pennsylvania town $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in greenbacks as compensation for 3 Virginia houses burned by Maj. Gen. David hunter's Union troops. According to the orders, if the payment was not made, the town would be "laid in ashes in retaliation".
Three cannon shots signaled the Confederates presence and by 6:00 A.M., some 500 Confederates occupied the town, 100 Union troops had already fled. McCausland had the proclamation read and gave the citizens 6 hours to pay the ransom. While the commander waited, his men plundered the stores, including some liquor businesses. Soon, drunken Confederates began looting private homes, taking jewelry, silverware, and money. The citizens refused to pay the ransom and McCausland ordered the town fired.
The Confederates torched a warehouse first, then the courthouse and town hall, and within 10 minutes the flames engulfed the main part of the town. The terrified residents, seizing a few possessions, fled to a cemetery and fields around the village. Some citizens who had paid money to have their homes spared saw them burned anyway. A cavalry officer isolated from his men was shot and killed by a mob of townspeople. Those Confederates who disapproved of the burning did save several houses.
The Confederates departed by 1:00 P.M. Behind them 400 buildings, 274 of them homes, smoldered in ruins. Damages amounted to nearly $1,500,000. To Maj. Gen. Jubal Early, it was just retaliation.
D. Saturday, July 30, 1864: Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, VA. After weeks of preparation, on July 30 the Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. William Mahone. The break was sealed off, and the Federals were repulsed with severe casualties. Ferrarro’s division of black soldiers was badly mauled. This may have been Grant’s best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was relieved of command for his role in the debacle.

1. Tuesday, July 30, 1861: Wounded prisoners at the Richmond Almshouse. the Richmond Enquirer published an account of a reporter who had visited wounded Union prisoners being held and cared for at the Richmond Almshouse. In general, the Enquirer's reporter is condescending towards the Union prisoners, but he singled out Elmer Ellworth's Fire Zouaves for special abuse.
RICHMOND ENQUIRER, July 30, 1861: “Yesterday morning our reporter paid a visit to the City Alms House, where a number of the wounded, captured at Manassas, are now quartered. The Alms House is a large four story building, recently erected and completed with the exception of the plastering. It is situated on a commanding elevation in the northeastern portion of the city and affords from its windows and spacious porches a magnificent view of the surrounding country. It is most admirably adapted for a hospital, the use to which it is now put, as well on account of its interior arrangements as its salubrious situation. The wounded prisoners occupy the south end of the second story. Those seriously wounded are lying on mattresses, and, others who are slightly injured, sit on benches or walk up and down he porches as suits their pleasure. An air of neatness pervades the whole establishment, and the order is only broken by the occasional curses of a "Pet Lamb." With the exception of the New York Zouaves, the prisoners express regret at taking up arms against our people. Some say their newspapers and politicians had led them to believe that Southerners were semi-barbarous, and were preparing to overrun the North; others had been persuaded that the masses of the people here were held in subjection by a few unprincipled men, and desired the aid of the North to regain their independence; and many enlisted with the understanding that they would only be employed in the defence of Washington city. They are very grateful for the kind treatment they are receiving at our hands. But the Fire Zouaves are incorrigible. They seem perfectly oblivious to every sentiment of honor, gratitude or decency. They have nothing but the human form and faculty of speech to distinguish them from Gorillas.
No wonder the Astors and Coopers, of New York, contributed so liberally to their equipment, and urged them so earnestly to invade the South. They knew their brown stone fronts, marble palaces and plethoric warehouses rested on a foundation as insecure as the passions of this “glorious fighting material,” as Ellsworth termed them, which waited but the spark of some favorable event to fan into flames, fiercer than those that lit up the streets of Paris, and cast a lurid light over the thousand horrors of a French revolution. The New York “Herald” stated, a few weeks ago, that there were three hundred thousand just such men in the North as those composing the fire Zouave regiments, and insisted they should be organized into a “grand army,” to invade the South; and should, in the language of the Botany Bay Poet, “Leave their country for their country’s good.”
The sentiment of humanity, which finds no more capacious dwelling than a Southern heart, demands these Zouaves – debased, degraded and ungrateful as they are – should be taken care of in their present condition; but we would respectfully suggest that no such sentiment requires that our men should be compelled to occupy the same apartment with them, or what is tantamount to it, adjoining rooms, through the open doors of which they can hear abuse heaped upon our cause by the representatives from Blackwell’s Island, the Five Points, and other renowned school from whence Northern policy draws its deepest inspirations.
The Richmond Almshouse had been completed in 1860 and was intended to care for Richmond's poor and destitute in their final years. Before it could be put to that use, the war came and the building was repurposed as a hospital for wounded Union prisoners.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1861
2. Wednesday, July 30, 1862: The Cincinnati Gazette is the first to use the term “copperhead” to describe “peace at any price” Democrats and those who don’t admit they are Southern sympathizers. As the year progresses, it will include the conservative wing of the northern Democrat party and others who oppose emancipation, the militia draft of 1862 and the financial legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and who do not want to see the war turned into a war to destroy the Old South rather than to restore the Union as it was. Of interest in this context is a letter President Lincoln wrote to a prominent New York financier on July 31st: “Broken eggs cannot be mended . . . This government cannot much longer play a game in which it stakes all, and its enemies stake nothing. Those enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt.” The financier was seemingly less impressed by this response than is McPherson.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
3. Wednesday, July 30, 1862: The term Copperhead is used for the first time in writing by the Cincinnati Gazette. It was used to indicate people who would not admit they were Southern sympathizers, and "peace at any price" Democrats. People who did admit Southern sympathies were called "dough-heads." The paper used the term when refering to members of the Indiana Democratic Convention.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
4. Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal of his regiment’s movements in northern Mississippi: “Wednesday, 30th—We camped on a large "secesh" plantation last night. The owner of it being a general in the rebel army, we made ourselves at home, killing all the cattle that we wanted and taking all the honey that we could carry away with us. We started at 8 o’clock this morning and marched fourteen miles, when we bivouacked for the night.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
5. Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- In New York City, George Templeton Strong—a Wall Street lawyer, a key figure in the NYC Republican Party, and a leading force for the Sanitary Commission—muses on the possibility of using black soldiers: “I greatly fear that we are on the eve of some vast calamity. Why in the name of anarchy and ruin doesn’t the President order the draft of one million fighting men at once and the liberation and arming of every able-bodied Sambo in Southronia? We shall perish unless the government begin singing in that very key. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
6. Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- A soldier of the 3rd New York Artillery Regiment writes home to the hometown newspaper in Seneca County of the dangerous situation with Rebel guerillas and bushwhackers near the Union-occupied town of Newbern, North Carolina: “A few nights since, the guard stationed in that position of the city most inhabited by fisherman and the poorer classes, was fired upon and severely wounded. The house was immediately surrounded, and its inmates, (seven men,) arrested and lodged in jail. The following day a strict search was instituted, which resulted in finding in it, and the adjoining houses, a quantity of fire arms, and a keg of powder. The buildings were soon demolished by the soldier mob. Since then all suspicious houses, have been searched, and over one hundred different styles of fire arms, found. One of the men arrested, acknowledges he fired the shot and has been recognized as a paroled soldier taken at Roanoke. Rumor says he is to be hung.
For a long time a roving band of guerrillas have been prowling about the country in the vicinity of our camp. (Bachelor’s Creek, seven miles west of Newbern, on the lines of the A.A.N.C.R.R.) and committing lawless depredations on the property of men known Union proclivities. The commanding officer of the post, after making several applications to Gen. FOSTER, received an order to "clean them out." . . . We were now in the vicinity of the "Rebs," and much caution was necessary. We had not proceeded far, when turning a short bend in the road, we came suddenly upon the post of the outer piquet. He was a brave fellow, and very cooly aimed his carbine at the Cavalry Sergeant, but the cap snapped without igniting the powder. . . . The house near by – the reported headquarters of the band – was surrounded and searched, but the bird had flown. An old man, however, was taken, who informed us that at the house of one French, a notorious rebel, two miles further up the road, were quartered a detachment of the 2d N.C. Cavalry. . . . Again we took up our lines of march at a rapid rout step, until within one hundred rods of the house, when Lieut. RANDOLPH, commanding the artillerymen, (then acting as infantry,) proceeded to the rear, while the cavalry and remaining infantry took the front.The attack was admirably planned, and reflects credit upon the officer in command. I venture to say men were never more surprised then were they when our cavalry and infantry came down upon them with one of those "awful yells," at a double quick. . . . many of them were run down by our cavalry, while the most obstinate ones were either killed, or wounded, but few escaping unharmed. The rout was complete as appearances at the house would indicate. . . .
The prisoners taken are withal, well informed men, and expressed no little surprise at the kind treatment they received at our hands. They are now in jail, and have, I understand, declined taking the oath of allegiance.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
7. Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- An editorial entitled "Stand Together" appears in the Valley Spirit, a newspaper of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, reflecting the broad base of contention on the slave issue and the Cause of the war, appearing even in the politics of small towns, especially as the mid-term elections of Fall 1862 begin to loom on the horizon. The editors offer a conservative view of the government’s cause—that it is Union, and not the negro, that we are fighting for: “The united effort of the loyal men of the nation is needed to meet and suppress this Rebellion. What tends to preserve the Union is salvation to the country, but what tends to break in upon it, is fraught with danger! The sole common bond of the Union is the Constitution.
If we look at the border line of this terrible struggle--to Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, there is really but one opinion among the Union men. They ask nothing of the General Government but fidelity to the national compact; absolutely nothing but what every United States officer is sworn to observe. Eighty thousand men in the field; the Home Guard larger still, to keep at bay the secession tiger that prowls about their homes; the language of their Representatives and Senators in Congress--all attest the sincerity of their unionism. All speak of a patriotism worthy of the olden time; and implore an infatuated radical majority, in the name of all that is dear to country, to desist from the atrocious and bloody revolutionary programme of emancipating the four millions of slaves at the point of the bayonet; but, in good faith, to stand solidly by the Constitution, and thus restore the Union as it was: that is, revive the social, commercial, religious, political intercourse that endeared our several political communities in the sacred relations of one nation. . . . If there be one principle settled distinctly by the Constitution, it is that to the States exclusively belong the determination of their local institutions. All this, however, goes for nothing with the radicals. They seem to care nothing for fundamentals. Now, of themselves, they are of little account. But the Secessionists at the South, at this hour get hold of this Abolition stuff, and reproduce it in their newspapers and speeches, falsely magnify it, charge it on the whole north, and thus succeed in arraying the Southern people in solid phalanx against what they term the "Abolition Lincolns." This is the constant testimony from the South. . . .
Now, the remedy for all this is only in the people and through the ballot-box. The good and true men of the country must unite against the reckless demagogues who seek to destroy confidence in all but Abolition Generals, like Fremont, and the abolition plan of emancipation; and must insist that their public servants, sinking the negro question, shall address themselves to the sole work of meeting and suppressing this rebellion. . . .
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
8. Thursday, July 30, 1863: Mississippi/Gulf operations: General Halleck orders General Grant to send a corps to General Banks. Grant sends the XIII Corps under General E.O.C. Ord.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/29/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-29-august-4-1863/
9. Thursday, July 30, 1863: President Lincoln issues an Order of Retaliation, saying that the Union will stand by all its troops, and if POWs any are sold or enslaved because of their color, there will be retaliatory punishment on Confederate POWs.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/29/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-29-august-4-1863/
10. Thursday, July 30, 1863: Lincoln threatens retaliation. On this day 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln acted to head off the Confederate government's threat to execute captured Black troops and their White officers. Lincoln threatened to carry out an eye-for-an-eye retaliation for anything the Confederacy did to Union prisoners of war.
Executive Mansion, Washington D.C. July 30, 1863: It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age.
The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession.
It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1863
11. Thursday, July 30, 1863 --- President Abraham Lincoln, in response to South Carolina’s threat to execute the 24 prisoners taken from the 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s failed assault on Fort Wagner, issues this retaliation directive: “Executive Mansion, Washington D.C. July 30, 1863. It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age.
The government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave anyone because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession.
It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1863
12. July 30, 1863 (Thursday)
Through much of the beginning of the war, President Lincoln believed the nation to not be quite ready for black soldiers. By this time, of course, that was a distant memory. Ready or otherwise, the United States had armed both free and escaped blacks, placing them in their own segregated regiments, overseen by white officers. It was no picture of utopian equality, but then, it wasn’t the master’s whip on the cotton fields, either.
When Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, caught wind that the Union was making soldiers out of black men, he was incensed, and called for the execution of slaves in arms and their white officers. This was based on the intentionally misunderstood idea that the white officers were inciting a slave insurrection.
For the most part, black Federal soldiers had been used as a sort of back up to white soldiers. There were cases, such as at Port Royal, Louisiana, where they took to the front lines, but more often than not, they were on garrison or fatigue duty. The first time that black combat soldiers really made the news was after the Battle of Battery Wagner.
There, the 54th Massachusetts led the second assault upon the Confederate fort below of Charleston, South Carolina. Their casualties were staggering and included the death of their colonel, Robert Gould Shaw. These circumstances combined and quickly made a riveting piece of news. Adding to the drama, the Confederates refused to send Col. Shaw’s body home to Massachusetts because he led a black regiment.
News being what it was – often was little more than rumor – had it that the black soldiers taken prisoner were being sold into slavery. In the case of the black soldiers captured at Battery Wagner, this was not the case. Though soldiers of African decent had indeed been cast into slavery upon capture, the troops of the 54th Massachusetts were, for the time being, languishing in a Charleston prison.
According to the Confederate law, captured black soldiers were to be given over to the state where they were taken prisoner. Each state had varying ways of dealing with them, but South Carolina wanted to put them on trial. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the Rebel forces in Charleston, disagreed. Since none of the prisoners were escaped South Carolinian slaves, he wished for them to be treated at official prisoners of war. Both Charleston and Richmond disagreed, and (on July 29th) Beauregard was forced to hand them over for a trial that wouldn’t be held until September.
The call from many of South Carolina’s citizens and newspapers was for the twenty-four black prisoners to be put to death, even though only four of them had ever been slaves (and none were from South Carolina). It was amidst these rumors and blood-thirsty calls that Abraham Lincoln took action.
On this date, he issued General Order No. 252, an order of retaliation.
“It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of Nations and the usages and customs of war as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color, in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person on account of his color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age.
“The Government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers; and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy’s prisoners in our possession. It is therefore ordered, that for every soldier of the United States, killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy, or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on public works, and continued at such labor, until the other shall be released, and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.”
These were harsh words. After calling out the South on their culture of barbarism, he threatened Old Testament-style retribution for crimes against black soldiers. But there was more to this than at first it seemed.
Prior to the war, Lincoln was hardly in favor of emancipation, let along equal rights. Yet, in July of 1863, he claimed it the duty of every government to provide equal protection to all its citizens, regardless of color. Here lies the smallest seeds of what would become the 14th amendment, ratified in 1868, which gave equal protection to all citizens. The echoes of this call for equal protection would echo here and there until they finally took Constitutional hold.
Of course, it was the second paragraph that caught the attention of the South. When news of Lincoln’s Retaliation Proclamation reached Charleston, the press and many of her people called for the state to ignore Lincoln’s threats and execute the prisoners anyway. They were willing to risk the lives of twenty-four of their own sons and fathers to kill their twenty-four black prisoners. [1]
[1] Sources: Lincoln’s Moral Vision: The Second Inaugural Address by James Tackach; Gate of Hell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863 by Stephen R. Wise; Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 6.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/lincolns-retaliation-proclamation-a-stern-warning-to-the-south/
13. July 30, 1864: The Battle of the Crater, 8:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
By 10:00 a.m. it is clear that the assault at the site of the mine has failed and the Union leadership turned to the problem of withdrawing the attacking troops.
HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, July 30, 1864-8.45 a. m.
General MEADE: “One gun has just been taken out of the mine and is now being put in position. Have not heard anything from the attack made from the left of mine. One set of colors just sent in, captured by the negroes. W. W. SANDERS, Captain and Commissary of Musters.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
14. HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, July 30, 1864-9 a. m.
General MEADE: “The attack made on right of mine has been repulsed. A great many men are coming to the rear. W. W. SANDERS, Captain.
General MEADE: “Many of the Ninth and Eighteenth Corps are retiring before the enemy. I think now is the time to put in the Fifth Corps promptly. A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General.”
Major-General BURNSIDE: “GENERAL: The columns I reported a few moments since are still moving and at double-quick. I judge them to be, in all that have thus far crossed the road, full a division and a half. Their right has been very much weakened.
J. C. PAINE, Captain and Signal Officer.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
15. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-9.30 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Commanding Ninth Corps: “The major-general commanding has heard that the result of your attack has been a repulse, and directs that, if in your judgment nothing further can be effected, you withdraw to your own line, taking every precaution to get the men back safely.
A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
General Ord will do the same. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
General BURNSIDE: “Two more brigades of infantry are moving toward our front, coming from the city and passing in front of the gothic house, on the left of the road that passes over the bluff. The troops I reported as having penetrated the enemy's line up to the buildings were evidently prisoners, as I have since observed other small squads going to the same place without arms.
J. C. PAINE, Captain and Signal Officer.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
16. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-9.45 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Commanding Ninth Corps: “The major-general commanding directs that you withdraw to your own intrenchments. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
17. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-10 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “You can exercise your discretion in withdrawing your troops now or at a later period, say to-night. It is not intended to hold the enemy's line which you now occupy any longer than is required to withdraw safely your men. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
18. July 30, 1864: The Battle of the Crater, 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, July 30, 1864.
General MEADE: “I am doing all in my power to push the troops forward, and, if possible, we will carry the crest. It is hard work, but we hope to accomplish it. I am fully alive to the importance of it. A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
19. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-7.30 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “What do you mean by hard work to take the crest? I understand not a man has advanced beyond the enemy's line which you occupied immediately after exploding the mine. Do you mean to say your officers and men will not obey your orders to advance? If not, what is the obstacle? I wish to know the truth, and desire an immediate answer. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
20. HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, Battery Morton, July 30, 1864.
General MEADE: “Your dispatch by Captain Jay received. The main body of General Potter's division is beyond the crater. I do not mean to say that my officers and men will not obey my orders to advance. I mean to say that it is very hard to advance to the crest. I have never in any report said anything different from what I conceived to be the truth. Were it not insubordinate I would say that the latter remark of your note was unofficerlike and ungentlemanly. A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
21. JULY 30, 1864-7.40 a. m.
General BURNSIDE: “Will you do me the favor to send me a copy of my note to your per Captain Jay? I did not keep any copy of it, intending it to be confidential. Your reply requires I should have a copy.
GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
22. HEADQUARTERS, July 30, 1864-7.40 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “Your orders have been delivered. I think it of great importance that the artillery on the right, which enfilades the space between our old lines and the crater, be silenced. There is a battery in the woods by the ravine on right. C. G. LORING.
Possibly also the rebel battery by railroad cut, opposite Ledlie's old right, can fire over here. Cannot the mortar battery be stirred up?
Major-General BURNSIDE: “GENERAL: The enemy are moving at least two brigades of infantry from their right and our Ninth Corps front and right. They are now passing around where the road goes toward the town west of those chimneys. J. C. PAINE, Captain and Signal Officer.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
23. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-8 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “Since writing by Captain Jay, Captain Sanders has come in and reported condition of affairs. He says Griffin has advanced and been checked. This modifies my dispatch; still I should like to know the exact morale of your corps. Ord reports he cannot move till you get out of the way. Can't you let him pass out on your right, and let him try what he can do?
GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
24. July 30, 1864: The Battle of the Crater, 5:40 a.m. to 6:10 a.m.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-5.40 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “What news from your assaulting column? Please report frequently.
GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
25. BATTERY MORTON, July 30, 1864-5.40 a. m.
General MEADE: “We have the enemy's first line and occupy the breach. I shall endeavor to push forward to the crest as rapidly as possible. A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General.
P. S.-There is a large fire in Petersburg.
W. W. SANDERS, Captain, &c.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
26. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-5.40 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Commanding Ninth Corps: “The general commanding learns that your troops are halting at the works where the mine exploded. He directs that all your troops be pushed forward to the crest at once. Call on General Ord to move forward his troops at once. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
27. HEADQUARTERS, Fourteen-Gun Battery, July 30, 1864-5.50 a. m.
General MEADE: “The Eighteenth Corps have just been ordered to push forward to the crest. The loss does not appear to be heavy. Some prisoners coming in. W. W. SANDERS, Captain, Sixth Infantry.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
28. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-6 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “Prisoners taken say there is no line in their rear, and that their men were falling back when ours advanced; that none of their troops have returned from the James. Our chance is now; push your men forward at all hazards (white and black) and don't lose time in making formations, but rush for the crest. GEO. G. MEADE,Major-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
29. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-6.05 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Commanding Ninth Corps: “The commanding general wishes to know what is going on on your left, and whether it would be an advantage for Warren's supporting force to go in at once.
A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
30. HEADQUARTERS, Fourteen-Gun Battery, July 30, 1864-6.10 a. m.
General MEADE: “General Burnside says that he has given orders to all his division commanders to push everything in at once.
W. W. SANDERS, Captain and Commissary of Musters.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
31. July 30, 1864: The Battle of the Crater, 6:15 a.m. to 6:50 a.m.
JULY 30, 1864-6.15 a. m.
General BURNSIDE: “General Hartranft is moving forward independent of Ledlie; he was detained getting his regiments into order; he has now all but two regiments over the enemy's line; Ledlie has sent orders to move at once; infantry and artillery fire enfilades from the right on Humphrey's; Twenty-seventh Michigan moves to the left; other regiments forward.
CUTTING, Aide-de-Camp.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
32. HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, July 30, 1864-6.20 a. m.
Major-General MEADE: “If General Warren's supporting force can be concentrated just now, ready to go in at the proper time, it would be well. I will designate to you when it ought to move. There is scarcely room for it now in our immediate front.
A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
33. SIGNAL STATION, July 30, 1864.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “GENERAL: There is one gun in the battery on the left of the road that enfilades the line over which the re-enforcements are going to the brigade already in the enemy's works and doing great execution. I have called Captain Brooker's attention to it, urging the necessity of silencing the gun, if possible. The enemy have greatly increased the small work on the right of their second line during the night, but there are no guns in it, nor can I see any troops there. No movements of troops anywhere along their line visible.
J. C. PAINE, Captain and Signal Officer.”
34. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-6.50 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “Warren's force has been concentrated and ready to move since 3.20 a. m. My object in inquiring was to ascertain if you could judge of the practicability of his advancing without awaiting for your column. What is the delay in your column moving? Every minute is most precious, as the enemy undoubtedly are concentrating to meet you on the crest, and if you give them time enough you cannot expect to succeed. There is no object to be gained in occupying the enemy's line; it cannot be held under their artillery fire without much labor in turning it. The great point is to secure the crest at once, and at all hazards.
GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
35. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-4.15 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “Is there any difficulty in exploding the mine? It is three-quarters of an hour later than that fixed upon for exploding it. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
36. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-4.20 a. m.
OPERATOR AT GENERAL BURNSIDE'S FIELD HEADQUARTERS: “Is General Burnside at his headquarters? The commanding general is anxious to learn what is the cause of delay. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.
37. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-4.35 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “If the mine cannot be exploded something else must be done, and at once. The commanding general is awaiting to hear from you before determining. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
38. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-4.35 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Commanding Ninth Corps: “The commanding general directs that if your mine has failed you make an assault at once, opening your batteries. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
39. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 30, 1864-3.20 a. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE: “As it is still so dark, the commanding general says you can postpone firing the mine if you think proper. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Major-General and Chief of Staff.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
40. HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, July 30, 1864-3.20 a. m.
Major-General HUMPHREYS: “The mine will be fired at the time designated. My headquarters will be at the fourteen-gun battery. A. E. BURNSIDE”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1864
41. Saturday, July 30, 1864:
42.

Wednesday, July 30, 1862: Chattanooga Campaign: To protect his newly opened rail supply lines, US General Buell orders Colonel J. F. Miller in Nashville to build stockades “at every bridge or other important point occupied by troops on the road north of Nashville.” The stockades are to be held by a company of 20-40 men, with two companies at the crucial twin tunnels on the Louisville & Nashville line at Gallatin.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
Wednesday, July 30, 1862: Peninsula/Northern Virginia Campaign: US General Burnside is ordered to leave Newport News and proceed with his troops to Aquia Landing on the James River. General McClellan is ordered to send his sick and wounded to Aquia Landing. US General Pope receives word that Confederates may be evacuating Richmond and tells General McClellan about it. General Lee orders Jeb Stuart to “give what protection you can to the families of our citizens [in Fredericksburg, where Federal troops have been arresting all men] and every facility in your power to get within our lines.”
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- Eastern Theater - Gen. Halleck now being installed as General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, he begins to hint to McClellan that the Army of the Potomac ought to do something. But Little Mac is still convinced that he is outnumbered by 200,000 Confederate troops to his 100,000, even though he knows that Jackson has already moved to the northwest with nearly 30,000 troops. McClellan insists that he must have more reinforcements, and that the Confederates are receiving massive reinforcements on almost a daily basis. He never offers any evidence for these assertions.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- Gen. John C. Breckinridge is sent by Gen. Van Dorn south from Mississippi on the railroad with two small divisions of Confederate troops to re-invade Louisiana and to re-take Baton Rouge, the state capital. Breckinridge believes the city to be militarily worthless, and nearly impossible to defend, but dutifully deploys his troops and steps off to advance on Baton Rouge.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- On the Mississippi River, the steamer Sallie Wood, used for transporting supplies and wounded men, is fired upon from several masked Rebel batteries until its boiler is pierced and it loses steam. The wood is beached on Island No. 84, and eventually the Rebels come to take possession of it. Only the captain of the boat and a few soldiers escape capture. The USS Carondelet steams upriver to find out what happened, and shells each one of the battery positions, and rescues the handful of sick men who have escaped capture.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
Wednesday, July 30, 1862 --- In Paris, Kentucky, bushwhackers under Joe Thompson raid the Unionist town, imprisoning the Sheriff and town officials, plundering the townspeople of their cash and specie, forcing the Court Clerk to issue indictments against citizens of the town, and then forcing the townsfolk to cook a great dinner for he and his guerillas, which eventually swells to nearly 400 before the day was over. They loot the stores in town, loading a wagon with the plunder. Soon after Thompson rides out of town, the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry arrives, under command of Lt. Col. James, and gives chase. They soon overtake the guerillas, killing 27 and capturing 39 (30 of whom had been wounded and left behind by the fleeing Secesh).
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1862
Thursday, July 30, 1863 --- An exchange of messages reveals a growing desertion problem in the Confederate army: HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, July 30, 1863. Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War: “SIR: I regret to send you the inclosed report of the adjutant [commander] of Scales' North Carolina brigade (Pender's old brigade), one which has done good service and reflected great credit upon that State. The officers attribute these desertions to the influence of the newspaper writers. I hope that something may be done to counteract these bad influences. From what I can learn, it would be well, if possible, to picket the ferries and bridges on James River and over the Staunton and Dan Rivers, near the foot of the mountains, in Halifax, Pittsylvania, Patrick, and Henry, at the most prominent points. Many of these deserters are said to pass that way, and it would be a great benefit to the army to catch them, in order to make some examples as speedily as possible. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1863
Thursday, July 30, 1863 --- HEADQUARTERS SCALES' BRIGADE, Major [JOSEPH A.] ENGELHARD, Assistant Adjutant-General: “MAJOR: I am pained this morning to inform you that last night brought another slur on our old brigade, and consequently on our State. Out of our small number present, about 50 deserted-42 from the Twenty-second, and 5 from the Thirty-eighth [North Carolina Regiments]. If any more, they have not been reported. It is that disgraceful "pease" sentiment spoken of by the Standard. Some-thing should be done; every effort should be made to overhaul them, and every one should be shot. Let us hope to check it now, for if this should pass by unnoticed, many more will very soon follow. I ask what to do. Respectfully, WM. L. J. LOWRANCE, Colonel”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+30%2C+1863
C Saturday, July 30, 1864: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania - Nearly 2,600 Confederate cavalrymen halted on the outskirts of Chambersburg about 3:00 A.M. on July 30th. Their commander, Brig. Gen. John McCausland, carried written orders from Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early demanding from the citizens of this southern Pennsylvania town $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in greenbacks as compensation for 3 Virginia houses burned by Maj. Gen. David hunter's Union troops. According to the orders, if the payment was not made, the town would be "laid in ashes in retaliation".
Three cannon shots signaled the Confederates presence and by 6:00 A.M., some 500 Confederates occupied the town, 100 Union troops had already fled. McCausland had the proclamation read and gave the citizens 6 hours to pay the ransom. While the commander waited, his men plundered the stores, including some liquor businesses. Soon, drunken Confederates began looting private homes, taking jewelry, silverware, and money. The citizens refused to pay the ransom and McCausland ordered the town fired.
The Confederates torched a warehouse first, then the courthouse and town hall, and within 10 minutes the flames engulfed the main part of the town. The terrified residents, seizing a few possessions, fled to a cemetery and fields around the village. Some citizens who had paid money to have their homes spared saw them burned anyway. A cavalry officer isolated from his men was shot and killed by a mob of townspeople. Those Confederates who disapproved of the burning did save several houses.
The Confederates departed by 1:00 P.M. Behind them 400 buildings, 274 of them homes, smoldered in ruins. Damages amounted to nearly $1,500,000. To Maj. Gen. Jubal Early, it was just retaliation.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
Saturday, July 30, 1864: Macon, Georgia - On July 30, Brig. Gen. George Stoneman and his Union force encountered light Confederate resistance about 7 miles from Macon. The townspeople were in a panic, trying to leave the city before the Union force arrived. The leaders were sending private and public property on trains out of the city. Much of this property was taken and destroyed by the Federals. The Confederates were forced to destroy the bridges over the Ocmulgee River to stall the Union force.
Not being able to enter Macon, Stoneman was forced to retrace his steps away from the city. They headed back to Clinton.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
Saturday, July 30, 1864: Clinton, Georgia - On July 30, Brig. Gen. George Stoneman and his Union force was forced to abandon their attack on Macon. They headed back to Clinton, where they encountered a Confederate force. The Federals drove the Confederates through the town, rescuing some of the Union foragers along the way. The foragers had been taken prisoner earlier that day and was placed in the town's jail. The Federals then burned down the jail and continued their march out of town.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
D Saturday, July 30, 1864: Battle of the Crater or Crater Battle. After blowing explosives at the end of a 586-foot tunnel which in turn ignited four magazines, Union troops advance to the Crater at Petersburg. After 4 hours, though, they are forced to withdraw.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
Saturday, July 30, 1864: Battle of the Crater. After weeks of preparation, on July 30 the Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. William Mahone. The break was sealed off, and the Federals were repulsed with severe casualties. Ferrarro’s division of black soldiers was badly mauled. This may have been Grant’s best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was relieved of command for his role in the debacle.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/the-crater.html
FYI SPC Deb Root-White GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SR SPC Private RallyPoint Member SMSgt Lawrence McCarter A1C Pamela G Russell LTC Trent Klug PO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth MSgt Robert C AldiSPC William Wilson SSG Edward Tilton CPT Richard Trione Cpl Samuel Pope Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr

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Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jul 31 at 2017 8:12 PM

2017-07-31T20:12:53-04:00

LTC Stephen F. my goodness my friend, I am impressed with the activity that happen on this date my friend. With out a doubt my friend in Northern Virginia I choose: 1864: Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, VA. After weeks of preparation the Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everythi
Your opening statement made a convincing inclination that convinced me.
-----BREAK---
Good to see the survey up and running. Hard work pays off!

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jul 31 at 2017 8:15 PM

2017-07-31T20:15:07-04:00

LTC Stephen F. Figures You would bring Up One of My Family Blowing Up Stuff "Battle of the Crater" Brig Gen Rufus Dawes, Contrary to Legend, We're Mellow Nice Guys.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Jul 31 at 2017 8:47 PM

2017-07-31T20:47:57-04:00

The Battle of the Craters decimated the fighting lines of both sides and instaneously entombed many soldiers while they were still alive. Miners in both sides had tunneled deeply under the earth. The generals quickly reformed their lines but the advantage had fallen to the Union.

Response by 1SG Joseph Dartey made Aug 1 at 2023 7:57 AM

2023-08-01T07:57:37-04:00

Brother Stephen, you just taught me a lot more about history. Thank you!!