What was the most significant event on July 8 during the U.S. Civil War?

2016-07-12T00:21:23-04:00

Delusions of grandeur in 1861 “In June President Jefferson Davis appointed Henry Hopkins Sibley, a former regular army officer, a brigadier general and authorized him to recruit a brigade of volunteers in central and south Texas to occupy the adjacent federal territories. Sibley planned an ambitious campaign. He intended to march north from El Paso, occupy New Mexico, seize the rich mines of Colorado Territory, then turn west through Salt Lake City, and take over the seaports of Los Angeles and San Diego. By one stroke, with a minimal force living off the land, Sibley would bring the entire Southwest under Confederate control. He believed the native people of New Mexico, as well as the recent immigrants to Colorado, Utah, and California would join his ranks. He also forecast that the Union troops in New Mexico would desert to his banner.”
First-hand account from a confederate in Hood’s division at Gettysburg in 1863 as he wrote home to his 4-year-old son about the battle at Gettysburg, particularly the fighting on the Second Day around Devil’s Den and Little Round Top---which includes some rather gruesome graphic details: Letter No. VIII. Hagerstown, Md., July 8th, 1863. “To Master Stark West, four years old: My Dear Little Man: I wrote to mamma from our camp near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and as to-morrow is your birthday, and you are getting to be a big boy, I thought you would like for papa to write you a letter and tell you something about the war and the poor soldiers.
God has been very good to me since I wrote to mamma. He has saved my life when many thousands of good men have been slain all around me. On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July a very terrible battle was fought near Gettysburg. We marched all night, leaving camp at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in order to reach the battlefield in time. There had been some fighting on the 1st and we passed a hospital where I saw a great many wounded soldiers, who were mangled and bruised in every possible way, some with their eyes shot out, some with their arms, or hands, or fingers, or feet or legs shot off, and all seeming to suffer a great deal. About two miles farther on I found a great many soldiers drawn up in a line, ready to meet the Yankees, who formed another line a mile or two in front of them. These lines were three or four miles long, and at different places on the hills were the batteries of artillery.
These, you know, are cannons, which shoot large shells, and iron balls a long distance. We kept in this line so long, and I was so tired, I went to sleep and dreamed about you and mamma and little sister, and I asked God to take care of you if I am taken away from you. After awhile we were marched off in a great hurry towards the left of the Yankee line of battle, which is called the left wing, and was opposite to our right wing, which was composed principally of Hood’s division. Our brigade was ordered to charge upon one of the Yankee batteries, which was posted on a mountain as high as mount Bonnell, with another battery on a still higher mountain, just back of it, to support it. We were standing in an open field, under the shot and shell of these batteries, for half an hour, before we moved forward, and a good many soldiers were killed all around me. One poor fellow had his head knocked off in a few feet of me, and I felt all the time as if I would never see you and little sister again. When the command was given to charge we moved forward as fast as we could towards the battery. It was between a half and three-quarters of a mile across an open field, over a marshy branch, over a stone fence, and up a very rugged and rocky hill, while Yankee sharpshooters were on the higher mountains, so as to have fairer shots at our officers. On we went yelling and whooping, and soon drove the Yankees from the first battery, but were too much worn out and exhausted to climb to the second, besides a great many of our men were killed, and minnie bullets and grape shot were as thick as hail, and we were compelled to get behind the rocks and trees to save ourselves.
We renewed the charge several times, but the slaughter of our men was so great that after four or five efforts to advance we retired about sunset and slept behind the rocks. I had thrown away my blanket and everything except my musket and cartridge box in the fight, and so spent a very uncomfortable night. We remained at the same place all the next day, and every now and then Yankee bullets would come pretty thick amongst us. One bullet went through my beard and struck a rock half an inch from my head, and a piece of the bullet hit me on the lip and brought the blood.
Lieutenant Joe Smith, of McLennan county, was killed in ten feet of me, and John Terry and Tom Mullens were both wounded in the shoulders. I wanted to write my little man a letter, which he could read when he was a big boy, but it has been raining and the ground is very wet and everything so uncomfortable that I cannot enjoy it.
Tell mamma she had better put off her visit to South Carolina until the war is over, as she seems to be doing very well, and it will be better for her. Your father, truly, John C. West.”

Pictures: 1863-07-08 Calvary engagement in Boonsboro on July 8, 1863; 1863-07-04 Gettysburg Campaign Retreat; 1863-07-08 Morgan's Raid into Indiana; CSA Gen Henry Hopkins Sibley

A. 1861: The Confederacy set in motion a plan to take control of New Mexico territory and appointed Brig Gen Henry Hopkins Sibley to command it. In June President Jefferson Davis appointed Sibley as a brigadier general and authorized him to recruit a brigade of volunteers in central and south Texas to occupy the adjacent federal territories. Sibley planned an ambitious campaign. He intended to march north from El Paso, occupy New Mexico, seize the rich mines of Colorado Territory, then turn west through Salt Lake City, and take over the seaports of Los Angeles and San Diego. By one stroke, with a minimal force living off the land, Sibley would bring the entire Southwest under Confederate control. He believed the native people of New Mexico, as well as the recent immigrants to Colorado, Utah, and California would join his ranks. He also forecast that the Union troops in New Mexico would desert to his banner.
B. 1863: Cavalry Battle at Boonsboro, Maryland. The battle was the largest cavalry conflict in Maryland during the Gettysburg Campaign, raged throughout the afternoon. Stuart advanced toward Boonsboro with four cavalry brigades. Kilpatrick and Buford's combined Union forces at about 11 a.m. on rain-soaked, muddy fields outside of town. At roughly 7 p.m. Federal infantry began arriving on the scene, forcing Stuart to withdraw north to Funkstown, Maryland. Although results of the battle were inconclusive, J.E.B. Stuart successfully delayed Meade's movement toward Williamsport, buying more time for Lee's retreat to Virginia.
Sloppy conditions forced the troopers on both sides to dismount and fight like infantrymen. Combined casualties at the Battle of Boonsboro totaled about 100.
C. 1863: CSA Brig Gen John Hunt Morgan crossed into Indiana by seizing two steamboats—the J.T McCombs and the Alice Dean—on the Kentucky bank, and ferrying approximately 2,400 troops across the Ohio River into southern Indiana. He ferried his men and equipment across, and by midnight, all of Morgan’s men are in Union territory. Thus begins the most daring of Morgan’s raids. July 8, 1863, the sound of shells exploding filled the air, as Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s troops crossed the Ohio River near the small town of Mauckport, Indiana. Hours later, the second of the only two Civil War Battles to take place on northern soil began at Corydon.
D. 1864: General John M. Schofield's Twenty-third Corps outflanked the defenses at Chattahoochee by crossing the Chattahoochee River at Sope (Soap) Creek which led CSA Gen Joseph E. Johnston decided to withdraw to Atlanta.
Details: Sherman's troops forded the river midafternoon of July 8. With Thomas ordered to "stir up the enemy" with demonstrations and Garrard attempting a crossing at Roswell, Schofield was Sherman's main hope for a foothold on the south bank. A brigade of Cox's division of the Twenty-third Corps not only found a convenient fish dam that allowed them to wade across the river, but found on the other side just a handful of Rebel pickets, who fled. A half-mile downstream near Isham's Ferry (where Sope Creek flows into the Chattahoochee) the 12th Kentucky crossed on pontoons and a bridge was soon built. By 7:00 p.m., Schofield reported that Jacob D. Cox's whole division was on the south bank and entrenching.
That night a Southern scout informed Confederate headquarters that the Yankees had crossed at least two brigades of infantry plus artillery at Isham's and that they had pushed more than a mile from the riverbank. Johnston responded predictably: early on the 9th, he directed Wheeler to contain the enemy bridgehead while he issued orders for the army to retreat across the river that night. By the time it did so, more of Schofield's corps had crossed, and so had at least two brigades of Garrard's cavalry division at Shallow Ford below Roswell. That day too, farther downstream at Cochran's Ferry, a detachment of the 1st Tennessee under Col. James Brownlow, stripped nude, waded across the river, and secured lodgment wearing only their weapons and gear.
The Federals' crossing of the Chattahoochee, which had been the focus of Sherman's anxious thoughts for days on end, had, thanks to Joe Johnston's peculiar indolence, proven surprisingly easy.

FYICOL Jean (John) F. B. LTC Stephen C. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT 1stSgt Eugene Harless MSG Brad Sand SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSG Leo Bell SSgt Robert Marx SGT John " Mac " McConnell SGT Forrest Stewart SrA Christopher Wright SGT Robert George SPC Private RallyPoint Member Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM PO2 Ed C. MAJ Private RallyPoint Member

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 12 at 2016 12:24 AM

2016-07-12T00:24:20-04:00

Torrential rains impeded the Army of Northern Virginia as the Potomac River was high. The rains partially slowed the Federal advance. However, Meade’s reluctance to press the fight was the primary issue. The rains were so hard that the cavalry battle at Boonsboro, Maryland was largely fought on foot.
1863: A Seneca county newspaper in upstate New York reports on the Battle of Gettysburg: “The dark cloud that has so long overhung the nation is parting, and through the almost impenetrable mist, gleams of hope and sunshine are glancing. The Army of the Potomac under MEADE has saved us from defeat and disaster, if it has won a substantial and glorious victory. A terrible and bloody conflict commenced near Gettysburg, Pa., on Wednesday of last week, the rebels attacking our forces and repulsing them with great slaughter, until reinforced by the veteran troops of Gen. MEADE. At nightfall the battle ceased, only to be renewed the following day with increased fury and violence, both sides being largely reinforced. the rebels were the attacking party on the second as well as the first day. . . . The forces of the enemy were massed upon all points of our lines, but were repulsed as often as they endeavored to pierce the solid ranks of our veteran troops. After a slaughter inconceivable, the enemy were repulsed, and compelled to fall back at all points. . . . The loss on both sides is very heavy. It is semi-officially stated that ours foot up seventeen thousand, killed, wounded and missing, while our reports put the rebel loss at twenty-three thousand. In all probability one side suffered quite as severely as the other. The result, however, ought to rejoice the heart of every American citizen. Had General MEADE’s army been defeated, Heaven only knows what would have been the consequences. The end, however is not yet. – . . . A few days may change the tide of success.#”

Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and xx which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Tuesday, July 08, 1862: Mary Boykin Chestnut, of South Carolina, writes in her diary of the tenor of “table-talk’ among her acquaintances: “Table-talk to-day: This war was undertaken by us to shake off the yoke of foreign invaders. So we consider our cause righteous. The Yankees, since the war has begun, have discovered it is to free the slaves that they are fighting. So their cause is noble. They also expect to make the war pay. Yankees do not undertake anything that does not pay. They think we belong to them. We have been good milk cows—milked by the tariff, or skimmed. We let them have all of our hard earnings. We bear the ban of slavery; they get the money. Cotton pays everybody who handles it, sells it, manufactures it, but rarely pays the man who grows it. Second hand the Yankees received the wages of slavery. They grew rich. We grew poor. The receiver is as bad as the thief. That applies to us, too, for we received the savages they stole from Africa and brought to us in their slave-ships. As with the Egyptians, so it shall be with us: if they let us go, it must be across a Red Sea—but one made red by blood.”
Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- John C. West, an infantryman from Texas fighting in Robertson’s Brigade, Hood’s division, writes home to his 4-year-old son about the battle at Gettysburg, particularly the fighting on the Second Day around Devil’s Den and Little Round Top---which includes some rather gruesome graphic details: Letter No. VIII. Hagerstown, Md., July 8th, 1863. “To Master Stark West, four years old: My Dear Little Man: I wrote to mamma from our camp near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and as to-morrow is your birthday, and you are getting to be a big boy, I thought you would like for papa to write you a letter and tell you something about the war and the poor soldiers.
God has been very good to me since I wrote to mamma. He has saved my life when many thousands of good men have been slain all around me. On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July a very terrible battle was fought near Gettysburg. We marched all night, leaving camp at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in order to reach the battlefield in time. There had been some fighting on the 1st and we passed a hospital where I saw a great many wounded soldiers, who were mangled and bruised in every possible way, some with their eyes shot out, some with their arms, or hands, or fingers, or feet or legs shot off, and all seeming to suffer a great deal. About two miles farther on I found a great many soldiers drawn up in a line, ready to meet the Yankees, who formed another line a mile or two in front of them. These lines were three or four miles long, and at different places on the hills were the batteries of artillery.
These, you know, are cannons, which shoot large shells, and iron balls a long distance. We kept in this line so long, and I was so tired, I went to sleep and dreamed about you and mamma and little sister, and I asked God to take care of you if I am taken away from you. After awhile we were marched off in a great hurry towards the left of the Yankee line of battle, which is called the left wing, and was opposite to our right wing, which was composed principally of Hood’s division. Our brigade was ordered to charge upon one of the Yankee batteries, which was posted on a mountain as high as mount Bonnell, with another battery on a still higher mountain, just back of it, to support it. We were standing in an open field, under the shot and shell of these batteries, for half an hour, before we moved forward, and a good many soldiers were killed all around me. One poor fellow had his head knocked off in a few feet of me, and I felt all the time as if I would never see you and little sister again. When the command was given to charge we moved forward as fast as we could towards the battery. It was between a half and three-quarters of a mile across an open field, over a marshy branch, over a stone fence, and up a very rugged and rocky hill, while Yankee sharpshooters were on the higher mountains, so as to have fairer shots at our officers. On we went yelling and whooping, and soon drove the Yankees from the first battery, but were too much worn out and exhausted to climb to the second, besides a great many of our men were killed, and minnie bullets and grape shot were as thick as hail, and we were compelled to get behind the rocks and trees to save ourselves.
We renewed the charge several times, but the slaughter of our men was so great that after four or five efforts to advance we retired about sunset and slept behind the rocks. I had thrown away my blanket and everything except my musket and cartridge box in the fight, and so spent a very uncomfortable night. We remained at the same place all the next day, and every now and then Yankee bullets would come pretty thick amongst us. One bullet went through my beard and struck a rock half an inch from my head, and a piece of the bullet hit me on the lip and brought the blood.
Lieutenant Joe Smith, of McLennan county, was killed in ten feet of me, and John Terry and Tom Mullens were both wounded in the shoulders. I wanted to write my little man a letter, which he could read when he was a big boy, but it has been raining and the ground is very wet and everything so uncomfortable that I cannot enjoy it.
Tell mamma she had better put off her visit to South Carolina until the war is over, as she seems to be doing very well, and it will be better for her. Your father, truly, John C. West.*

Pictures: 1864-07-08 After John M. Schofield established a bridgehead, the rest of the Union army began crossing the Chattahoochee; 1864-07-08 Brownlow’s crossing of Chattahoochee; 1863-07-08 first Maine Cavalry at Boonsboro, Maryland; USS Alice_Dean_2

A. Monday, July 08, 1861: The Confederacy set in motion a plan to take control of New Mexico territory and appointed Brig Gen Henry Hopkins Sibley to command it. In June President Jefferson Davis appointed Sibley as a brigadier general and authorized him to recruit a brigade of volunteers in central and south Texas to occupy the adjacent federal territories. Sibley planned an ambitious campaign. He intended to march north from El Paso, occupy New Mexico, seize the rich mines of Colorado Territory, then turn west through Salt Lake City, and take over the seaports of Los Angeles and San Diego. By one stroke, with a minimal force living off the land, Sibley would bring the entire Southwest under Confederate control. He believed the native people of New Mexico, as well as the recent immigrants to Colorado, Utah, and California would join his ranks. He also forecast that the Union troops in New Mexico would desert to his banner.
B. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Cavalry Battle at Boonsboro, Maryland. J.E.B. Stuart advanced toward Boonsboro with four cavalry brigades. The action began when Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones's brigade encountered Federal pickets near Beaver Creek about 4.5 miles north of Boonsboro. As the Confederates pushed forward they met the Kilpatrick and Buford's combined Union forces at about 11 a.m. on rain-soaked, muddy fields outside of town. Sloppy conditions forced the troopers on both sides to dismount and fight like infantrymen. The battle, which was the largest cavalry conflict in Maryland during the Gettysburg Campaign, raged throughout the afternoon. At roughly 7 p.m. Federal infantry began arriving on the scene, forcing Stuart to withdraw north to Funkstown. Although results of the battle were inconclusive, Stuart successfully delayed Meade's movement toward Williamsport, buying more time for Lee's retreat to Virginia.
Combined casualties at the Battle of Boonsboro totaled about 100.
C. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: CSA Brig Gen John Hunt Morgan crossed into Indiana by seizing two steamboats—the J.T McCombs and the Alice Dean—on the Kentucky bank, and ferrying approximately 2,400 troops across the Ohio River into southern Indiana. He ferried his men and equipment across, and by midnight, all of Morgan’s men are in Union territory. Thus begins the most daring of Morgan’s raids. July 8, 1863, the sound of shells exploding filled the air, as Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s troops crossed the Ohio River near the small town of Mauckport, Indiana. Hours later, the second of the only two Civil War Battles to take place on northern soil began at Corydon.
D. Friday, July 08, 1864: General John M. Schofield's Twenty-third Corps outflanked the defenses at Chattahoochee by crossing the Chattahoochee River at Sope (Soap) Creek which led CSA Gen Joseph E. Johnston decided to withdraw to Atlanta.
Details: Sherman's troops forded the river midafternoon of July 8. With Thomas ordered to "stir up the enemy" with demonstrations and Garrard attempting a crossing at Roswell, Schofield was Sherman's main hope for a foothold on the south bank. A brigade of Cox's division of the Twenty-third Corps not only found a convenient fish dam that allowed them to wade across the river, but found on the other side just a handful of Rebel pickets, who fled. A half-mile downstream near Isham's Ferry (where Sope Creek flows into the Chattahoochee) the 12th Kentucky crossed on pontoons and a bridge was soon built. By 7:00 p.m., Schofield reported that Jacob D. Cox's whole division was on the south bank and entrenching.
That night a Southern scout informed Confederate headquarters that the Yankees had crossed at least two brigades of infantry plus artillery at Isham's and that they had pushed more than a mile from the riverbank. Johnston responded predictably: early on the 9th, he directed Wheeler to contain the enemy bridgehead while he issued orders for the army to retreat across the river that night. By the time it did so, more of Schofield's corps had crossed, and so had at least two brigades of Garrard's cavalry division at Shallow Ford below Roswell. That day too, farther downstream at Cochran's Ferry, a detachment of the 1st Tennessee under Col. James Brownlow, stripped nude, waded across the river, and secured lodgment wearing only their weapons and gear.
The Federals' crossing of the Chattahoochee, which had been the focus of Sherman's anxious thoughts for days on end, had, thanks to Joe Johnston's peculiar indolence, proven surprisingly easy.

1. Tuesday, July 08, 1856: Grand jury indicts Preston Brooks for the assault on Charles Sumner. He pleads guilty and pays a $300 fine.

[2. Monday, July 08, 1861: Florida, Missouri - a group of Union State Troops discovered a Confederate camp in Florida. They made a surprise attack on the camp and quickly dispersed the Confederates. [[mycivilwar.com/battles/1861s.html
3. Tuesday, July 08, 1862 --- The New York Times, in opposition to the new Income Tax bill, points out a number of ills that will emerge as a result of this new bureaucracy: “One of the worst provisions of the Tax bill recently passed by Congress is that under which an army of office-holders is to be appointed. Our country has heretofore been cursed with thousands of persons whose main business has been to seek place under the Government, hoping to obtain a livelihood thus, rather than by engaging in regular and legitimate occupations. . . . This evil, it appears, will be largely increased by the passage of the Tax bill, which requires a large additional force of Government officials to be appointed. . . . The injury inflicted on the country by withdrawing competent men from other occupations to fill these places, is not the only one. The people will be heavily taxed to support them, and to pay them for collecting the money due the Government. . . . It is expected that the revenue derived from internal taxes will amount to $110,000,000. The cost of collecting this sum will therefore be, if our estimate be a correct one, about three and one-half per cent of the amount collected. This, though a much smaller proportion than many expect, will amount to a large sum, as the figures above demonstrate.
So we see that some things have not changed with the US Government---indeed, have gotten only worse.”
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1862]]
4. Tuesday, July 08, 1862 --- On this date, Gen. Benjamin Butler in New Orleans authorizes the raising of Louisiana troops into regiments to serve in the Union army, provided the recruits takes a loyalty oath.
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1862]]
5. Tuesday, July 08, 1862: Pleasant Hill, Missouri - On July 8, a Union force attacked a Confederate guerrilla camp, commanded by William C. Quantrill. The Federals managed to scatter the Confederates.
[[mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html]]
6. Tuesday, July 08, 1862: Abraham Lincoln visits with George McClellan at Harrison's Landing.
[[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207]]
7. Tuesday, July 08, 1862 --- On this date, after dusk, Pres. Lincoln arrives by steamer at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, to confer with Gen. McClellan on the status and condition of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan takes this opportunity to give Lincoln his “strong and frank letter” written the day before, wherein the General points out where Lincoln has gone wrong, and how the nation might be saved only by following a course of preserving the Union, conciliating the South, and ignoring the slave question. The President reads the letter on the spot, thanks McClellan for his thoughts, and never mentions it to him again.
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1862]]
8. Tuesday, July 08, 1862 --- Mary Boykin Chestnut, of South Carolina, writes in her diary of the tenor of “table-talk’ among her acquaintances: “Table-talk to-day: This war was undertaken by us to shake off the yoke of foreign invaders. So we consider our cause righteous. The Yankees, since the war has begun, have discovered it is to free the slaves that they are fighting. So their cause is noble. They also expect to make the war pay. Yankees do not undertake anything that does not pay. They think we belong to them. We have been good milk cows—milked by the tariff, or skimmed. We let them have all of our hard earnings. We bear the ban of slavery; they get the money. Cotton pays everybody who handles it, sells it, manufactures it, but rarely pays the man who grows it. Second hand the Yankees received the wages of slavery. They grew rich. We grew poor. The receiver is as bad as the thief. That applies to us, too, for we received the savages they stole from Africa and brought to us in their slave-ships. As with the Egyptians, so it shall be with us: if they let us go, it must be across a Red Sea—but one made red by blood.”
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1862]]
9. Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- John C. West, an infantryman from Texas fighting in Robertson’s Brigade, Hood’s division, writes home to his 4-year-old son about the battle at Gettysburg, particularly the fighting on the Second Day around Devil’s Den and Little Round Top---which includes some rather gruesome graphic details: Letter No. VIII. Hagerstown, Md., July 8th, 1863. “To Master Stark West, four years old: My Dear Little Man: I wrote to mamma from our camp near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and as to-morrow is your birthday, and you are getting to be a big boy, I thought you would like for papa to write you a letter and tell you something about the war and the poor soldiers.
God has been very good to me since I wrote to mamma. He has saved my life when many thousands of good men have been slain all around me. On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July a very terrible battle was fought near Gettysburg. We marched all night, leaving camp at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in order to reach the battlefield in time. There had been some fighting on the 1st and we passed a hospital where I saw a great many wounded soldiers, who were mangled and bruised in every possible way, some with their eyes shot out, some with their arms, or hands, or fingers, or feet or legs shot off, and all seeming to suffer a great deal. About two miles farther on I found a great many soldiers drawn up in a line, ready to meet the Yankees, who formed another line a mile or two in front of them. These lines were three or four miles long, and at different places on the hills were the batteries of artillery.
These, you know, are cannons, which shoot large shells, and iron balls a long distance. We kept in this line so long, and I was so tired, I went to sleep and dreamed about you and mamma and little sister, and I asked God to take care of you if I am taken away from you. After awhile we were marched off in a great hurry towards the left of the Yankee line of battle, which is called the left wing, and was opposite to our right wing, which was composed principally of Hood’s division. Our brigade was ordered to charge upon one of the Yankee batteries, which was posted on a mountain as high as mount Bonnell, with another battery on a still higher mountain, just back of it, to support it. We were standing in an open field, under the shot and shell of these batteries, for half an hour, before we moved forward, and a good many soldiers were killed all around me. One poor fellow had his head knocked off in a few feet of me, and I felt all the time as if I would never see you and little sister again. When the command was given to charge we moved forward as fast as we could towards the battery. It was between a half and three-quarters of a mile across an open field, over a marshy branch, over a stone fence, and up a very rugged and rocky hill, while Yankee sharpshooters were on the higher mountains, so as to have fairer shots at our officers. On we went yelling and whooping, and soon drove the Yankees from the first battery, but were too much worn out and exhausted to climb to the second, besides a great many of our men were killed, and minnie bullets and grape shot were as thick as hail, and we were compelled to get behind the rocks and trees to save ourselves.
We renewed the charge several times, but the slaughter of our men was so great that after four or five efforts to advance we retired about sunset and slept behind the rocks. I had thrown away my blanket and everything except my musket and cartridge box in the fight, and so spent a very uncomfortable night. We remained at the same place all the next day, and every now and then Yankee bullets would come pretty thick amongst us. One bullet went through my beard and struck a rock half an inch from my head, and a piece of the bullet hit me on the lip and brought the blood.
Lieutenant Joe Smith, of McLennan county, was killed in ten feet of me, and John Terry and Tom Mullens were both wounded in the shoulders. I wanted to write my little man a letter, which he could read when he was a big boy, but it has been raining and the ground is very wet and everything so uncomfortable that I cannot enjoy it.
Tell mamma she had better put off her visit to South Carolina until the war is over, as she seems to be doing very well, and it will be better for her. Your father, truly, John C. West.*
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1863
10. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Skirmish at Boonsboro, Maryland
[[emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm]]
11. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: After crossing the Ohio River on captured steamboats, John Hunt Morgan and his men loot Mauckport and Corydon, Indiana.
[[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307]]
12. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Port Hudson is surrendered, giving the Union control of the Mississippi.
[[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307]]
13. Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Port Hudson surrendered. The Confederate force there had been severely weakened by lack of food and fresh water. Only 50% of the Confederate troops there were capable of fighting. They surrendered 20 cannon and 7,500 rifles.
[[historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1863/]]
14. Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 42. Officers from the Rebel garrison of Port Hudson, Louisiana, meet with officers from Gen. Banks’ Federals today to arrange for the surrender of Port Hudson to the U.S. Army.
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1863]]
15. Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, writes in his journal about the chronic lack of “celerity” in the Union pursuit of the fleeing Rebel army out of the North, and traces this tendency to General Halleck, the Chief of Staff: “The Potomac is swollen by the late heavy rains, and the passage of the Rebel army is rendered impossible for several days. They are short of ammunition. In the mean time our generals should not lose their opportunity. I trust they will not. Providence favors them. Want of celerity, however, has been one of the infirmities of some of our generals in all this war. Stanton and Halleck should stimulate the officers to press forward at such a time as this, but I fear that they are engaged in smaller matters and they will be more unmindful of these which are more important. Halleck’s policy consists in stopping the enemy’s advance, or in driving the enemy back, — never to capture.*”
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1863]]
16. Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- A Seneca county newspaper in upstate New York reports on the Battle of Gettysburg: “The dark cloud that has so long overhung the nation is parting, and through the almost impenetrable mist, gleams of hope and sunshine are glancing. The Army of the Potomac under MEADE has saved us from defeat and disaster, if it has won a substantial and glorious victory. A terrible and bloody conflict commenced near Gettysburg, Pa., on Wednesday of last week, the rebels attacking our forces and repulsing them with great slaughter, until reinforced by the veteran troops of Gen. MEADE. At nightfall the battle ceased, only to be renewed the following day with increased fury and violence, both sides being largely reinforced. the rebels were the attacking party on the second as well as the first day. . . . The forces of the enemy were massed upon all points of our lines, but were repulsed as often as they endeavored to pierce the solid ranks of our veteran troops. After a slaughter inconceivable, the enemy were repulsed, and compelled to fall back at all points. . . . The loss on both sides is very heavy. It is semi-officially stated that ours foot up seventeen thousand, killed, wounded and missing, while our reports put the rebel loss at twenty-three thousand. In all probability one side suffered quite as severely as the other. The result, however, ought to rejoice the heart of every American citizen. Had General MEADE’s army been defeated, Heaven only knows what would have been the consequences. The end, however is not yet. – . . . A few days may change the tide of success.#”
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1863]]
17. Friday, July 08, 1864: Frederick, Maryland - On July 8, Brig. Gen. John McClausland and his Confederate cavalry entered Frederick. McClausland levied the town for $200,000 in retaliation for the Maj. Gen. David Hunter's raid and destruction in the Shenandoah Valley. Just 2 days earlier, McClausland did the same thing at Hagerstown. Once again, after the Confederates got their money, they quickly left town. [[mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html]]
18. Saturday, July 08, 1865: John T. Ford agrees to lease Ford's Theater to the War Department.
[[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186507]]
19.

A Monday, July 08, 1861: The Confederacy set in motion a plan to take control of New Mexico territory and appointed General H Sibley to command it.
[[historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/]]
A Monday, July 08, 1861: In June 1861 President Jefferson Davis appointed Henry Hopkins Sibley, a former regular army officer, a brigadier general and authorized him to recruit a brigade of volunteers in central and south Texas to occupy the adjacent federal territories. Sibley planned an ambitious campaign. He intended to march north from El Paso, occupy New Mexico, seize the rich mines of Colorado Territory, then turn west through Salt Lake City, and take over the seaports of Los Angeles and San Diego. By one stroke, with a minimal force living off the land, Sibley would bring the entire Southwest under Confederate control. He believed the native people of New Mexico, as well as the recent immigrants to Colorado, Utah, and California would join his ranks. He also forecast that the Union troops in New Mexico would desert to his banner.
[[tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qds03]]
B Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Boonsboro, Maryland - On July 8, the Confederate cavalry, holding the South Mountain passes, fought a rearguard action against elements of the Union 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions and infantry. This action was one of a series of cavalry combats fought around Boonsboro, Hagerstown, and Williamsport. Federals suffered 9 killed & 45 wounded. This was part of Gettysburg Campaign
[[mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html]]
B+ Wednesday, July 08, 1863: Cavalry Battle at Boonsboro, Maryland, Stuart advanced toward Boonsboro with four cavalry brigades. The action began when Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones's brigade encountered Federal pickets near Beaver Creek about 4.5 miles north of Boonsboro. As the Confederates pushed forward they met the Kilpatrick and Buford's combined Union forces at about 11 a.m. on rain-soaked, muddy fields outside of town. Sloppy conditions forced the troopers on both sides to dismount and fight like infantrymen. The battle, which was the largest cavalry conflict in Maryland during the Gettysburg Campaign, raged throughout the afternoon. At roughly 7 p.m. Federal infantry began arriving on the scene, forcing Stuart to withdraw north to Funkstown. Although results of the battle were inconclusive, Stuart successfully delayed Meade's movement toward Williamsport, buying more time for Lee's retreat to Virginia.
Combined casualties at the Battle of Boonsboro totaled about 100.
[[ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=1046]]
C Wednesday, July 08, 1863 --- John Hunt Morgan, now a general, has led his 2,400 cavalrymen on another raid. He crosses his men and horses over the Cumberland River into Kentucky on July 2, and in several sharp fights over the next several days, the Rebel riders suffer losses. After the Battle of Lebanon, the Rebels burn much of the town, in revenge for the death of Morgan’s younger brother. On this date, Morgan’s raiders arrive on the banks of the Ohio River, just across from Indiana. Captured steamboats ferry his men and equipment across, and by midnight, all of Morgan’s men are in Union territory. Thus begins the most daring of Morgan’s raids.
[[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+8%2C+1863]]
C+ July 8, 1863, the sound of shells exploding filled the air, as Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s troops crossed the Ohio River near the small town of Mauckport, Indiana. Hours later, the second of the only two Civil War Battles to take place on northern soil began at Corydon.
After sending spies into Indiana in June, Morgan began the raid into the state on July 8, 1863, by seizing two steamboats—the J.T McCombs and the Alice Dean—on the Kentucky bank, and ferrying approximately 2,400 troops across the Ohio River into southern Indiana. Upon hearing news of the raid, Governor Oliver P. Morton called for the people and militia of Indiana to defend their state. Thousands responded.
As word of Morgan’s Raid and early skirmishes spread to Corydon, local citizens, militia and the Indiana Legion hurried to set up fortifications outside the town and awaited the enemy. Around noon on July 9th the first elements of the raiders began their attack. At first the mainly untrained defenders held their own and were able to repel the invaders. But soon more Confederate forces arrived, along with artillery which pinned down the defenders. General Morgan himself soon appeared with his force and the Confederates’ superior number of battle-tested veterans quickly overwhelmed the defenders, who fled. Some retreated into Corydon.
After Morgan’s artillery fired two warning shots into the town, Col. Jordon, who commanded the Legion, had a white flag run up to officially surrender the town. Members of the Legion captured by Morgan’s men were stripped of their weapons and ammunition and paroled if they promised not to fight again.
[[connerprairie.org/Places-To-Explore/1863-Civil-War-Journey/Learn-more-about-the-Civil-War/General-Morgan-s-Raid-on-Indiana]]
D Friday, July 08, 1864: Army of the Ohio under General John Schofield [US] crosses the Chattahoochee River at Sope (Soap) Creek.
[[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407]]
D+ Friday, July 08, 1864: Part of Sherman’s army outflanked the defences at Chattahoochee and Johnston decided to withdraw to Atlanta.
[[.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/]]
D++ Friday, July 08, 1864: Sherman's troops forded the river mid-afternoon of July 8. With Thomas ordered to "stir up the enemy" with demonstrations and Garrard attempting a crossing at Roswell, Schofield was Sherman's main hope for a foothold on the south bank. A brigade of Cox's division of the Twenty-third Corps not only found a convenient fish dam that allowed them to wade across the river, but found on the other side just a handful of Rebel pickets, who fled. A half-mile downstream near Isham's Ferry (where Sope Creek flows into the Chattahoochee) the 12th Kentucky crossed on pontoons and a bridge was soon built. By 7:00 p.m., Schofield reported that Jacob D. Cox's whole division was on the south bank and entrenching.
That night a Southern scout informed Confederate headquarters that the Yankees had crossed at least two brigades of infantry plus artillery at Isham's and that they had pushed more than a mile from the riverbank. Johnston responded predictably: early on the 9th, he directed Wheeler to contain the enemy bridgehead while he issued orders for the army to retreat across the river that night. By the time it did so, more of Schofield's corps had crossed, and so had at least two brigades of Garrard's cavalry division at Shallow Ford below Roswell. That day too, farther downstream at Cochran's Ferry, a detachment of the 1st Tennessee under Col. James Brownlow, stripped nude, waded across the river, and secured lodgment wearing only their weapons and gear.
The Federals' crossing of the Chattahoochee, which had been the focus of Sherman's anxious thoughts for days on end, had, thanks to Joe Johnston's peculiar indolence, proven surprisingly easy.
[[civilwar.org/battlefields/kennesawmountain/kennesaw-mountain-history-articles/sope-creek-crossing.html]]
Morgan's Raid On Salem Indiana During Old Settlers Days 2012
Video celebrating the John Hunt Morgan Raid through Salem Indiana during the Civil War. Morgan's Raiders took control of Salem by quickly defeating the Home Guard troops. Morgan's Raiders headed through Indiana and into Ohio. Reenactment at Old Settlers' Days in Salem Indiana September 2012. Part 2 of 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZvUQlwILx4

The American Civil War 150 Years Ago Today

A no-frills day-by-day account of what was happening 150 years ago, this blog is intended to be a way that we can experience or remember the Civil War with more immediacy, in addition to understanding the flow of time as we live in it.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jul 12 at 2016 7:42 AM

2016-07-12T07:42:27-04:00

Great history read, and Sibley definitely had high hopes.

Response by SMSgt Thor Merich made Jul 12 at 2016 9:13 AM

2016-07-12T09:13:40-04:00

Good info. Its important to remember the past.