What was the most significant event on March 7 during the US Civil War?

2022-03-08T03:04:08-05:00

What is the most significant date 1861, 1862, 1864, 1865, or other?
In the mid-19th century, many people lived relatively normal days as farmers, business people, students, teachers, doctors, nurses, policemen and clergy. Those who served in the Federal or Confederate military experienced long periods of drudgery and boredom, punctuated with relatively short and violent extreme-combat at close range.
The winter months tended to see less direct major force engagements.

Images:
1. Battle of Pea Ridge [Elkhorn Tavern] - Leetown Fight, March 7, 1862, Map
2. 1861 Five Hundred Dollar Bond, Confederate States of America. Authorized by an Act of Congress, C.S.A.
3. Battle of Wyse Fork - surrender of the 15th Connecticut volunteer infantry regiment on March 7, 1865 painted by Steven McCall.
4. Red River Campaign of 1864

A. On March 7, 1861 Confederate currency authorized in the following denominations -$50, $100, $500, $1,000. The first series of Confederate paper money, issued in March 1861, bore interest and had a total circulation of $1,000,000.[1] As the war began to tilt against the Confederates, confidence in the currency diminished, and the government inflated the currency by continuing to print the unbacked banknotes.

B. On Friday March 7, 1862 Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, Day 2, Generals Ben McCulloch & James McIntosh killed. Van Dorn had planned for both his divisions to reach Cross Timber Hollow, but by dawn, only the head of Price's division had made it that far. Because of the delay, Van Dorn instructed McCulloch's division to take the Ford Road from Twelve Corner Church and meet Price at Elkhorn. That morning, Federal patrols detected both threats. Not knowing where the Confederate main body was located, Curtis sent Dodge's brigade of Col. Eugene A. Carr's 4th Division northeast up the Wire Road to join the 24th Missouri Infantry at Elkhorn Tavern. But Dodge, still worried about the threat to the Federal rear, had disobeyed orders and pulled his brigade back to Pratt's Store, available to immediately reinforce Elkhorn. Curtis also sent a task force under Col. Peter J. Osterhaus north to reconnoiter along Ford Road. Osterhaus' force consisted of Col. Nicholas Greusel's brigade of his own 1st Division, several cavalry units led by Col. Cyrus Bussey, and twelve cannons.
Leetown McCulloch's force consisted of a cavalry brigade under Brigadier General James McIntosh, an infantry brigade under Col. Louis Hébert, and a combined force of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole cavalry under Brig. Gen. Albert Pike. McCulloch's troops swung west on the Ford Road and plowed into elements of the Federal army at a small village named Leetown, where a fierce firefight erupted. At 11:30 a.m. Osterhaus rode north through a belt of timber onto Foster Farm and witnessed an astonishing sight. McCulloch's entire division was marching east on Ford Road only a few hundred yards away. Despite the odds, Osterhaus ordered Bussey's small force to attack to buy time for his infantry brigade to deploy. Three Federal cannon began shelling the Southerners, killing at least ten. McCulloch wheeled McIntosh's 3,000 horsemen to the south to attack. The massed Confederate charge overwhelmed Bussey's force, stampeding them and capturing the cannons. A little further west, two companies of the 3rd Iowa ran into a Cherokee ambush and were similarly routed. The Iowa unit's unusual killed-to-wounded ratio, 24 killed and 17 wounded, suggests that the Native American warriors killed a number of wounded Northerners. "Some, perhaps all, of Trimble's wounded Iowans were murdered and at least eight were scalped.
Lee Town fight
South of the belt of timber lay Oberson's Field, where Greusel had time to form his brigade and nine cannon on the forest edge on the south side. Sul Ross alertly led the 6th Texas Cavalry in pursuit of Bussey's force. But when Ross rode into the field, his men were fired on and quickly fell back. Greusel shook out two companies of skirmishers from the 36th Illinois and posted them along the southern edge of the belt of timber between Oberson's and Foster's fields. The Federal gunners began lobbing shells over the belt of timber. Though the howitzers were fired blindly, their first shell bursts panicked the Cherokees, who rapidly retreated and could not be rallied. Meanwhile, McCulloch had formed Louis Hébert's 4,000-man infantry brigade across a wide front and sent them south. Hébert took control of the four regiments east of the north-south Leetown Road, while McCulloch took charge of the four regiments west of the road. The Texan general rode forward into the belt of timber to personally reconnoiter the Federal positions, and coming into range of the Illinois skirmishers was shot through the heart. McIntosh was quickly notified that he was in command, but his staff, fearing that the death of their popular leader would dishearten his soldiers, made the unwise decision not to share the bad news with many of the subordinate officers. Without consulting Hébert, or anyone else, McIntosh impulsively led his former regiment, the dismounted 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles Regiment into the attack. As the unit reached the southern edge of the belt of timber, it was met with a massed volley from Greusel's brigade and McIntosh dropped dead with a bullet in him. In the meantime, unaware that he was now in command of the division, Hébert led the left wing of the attack south into the woods. Meanwhile, the colonels of the right wing regiments withdrew to await orders from Hébert. It was about 2:00 p.m. The blind Federal bombardment of Foster's Farm and the breakdown in the Confederate command structure began to destroy the morale of McCulloch's division.
Hébert's powerful attack was stopped in the nick of time by Col. Jefferson C. Davis and the 3rd Division. Davis was originally destined for Elkhorn, but Curtis diverted his troops to Leetown after Osterhaus' report reached him. The four Southern regiments nearly overran Davis' leading brigade under Col. Julius White. Davis ordered a cavalry battalion to charge, but this effort was easily routed by the Southern infantry. When Col. Thomas Pattison's brigade arrived, Davis sent them up a forest trail to envelop Hébert's open left flank. Untroubled by the inert Confederate units on Foster's Farm, Osterhaus was able to "box in" Hébert's right flank. After very hard fighting in dense woods, the Confederates, pressed from three sides, were driven back to the Ford Road. In the smoky confusion, Hébert and a small party, having become separated from the rest of the left wing, blundered through a gap in the Federal lines and got lost in the woods. Later that day, a Federal cavalry unit captured Hébert and his group.
At this point, command of McCulloch's division would normally have devolved upon Elkanah Greer, the commander of the 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment, but due to the prevailing command confusion, he was not notified of his superior officers' death or capture for several hours. In the meantime, Brig. Gen. Albert Pike, technically outside the chain of command of McCulloch's division assumed command on the Leetown battlefield around 3:00 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., even as Hébert was still battling in the woods, Pike decided to lead the regiments nearest to him in retreat back to Twelve Corners Church. This movement took place in total confusion, several units being left behind on the field, some marching back towards Camp Stephens, others around Big Mountain towards Van Dorn and the rest of the army. At least one regiment was at this point ordered to discard its arms and bury them for later recovery. It was only several hours later that Greer assumed command of the remaining forces and was at that point informed of Pike's actions. Initially, he considered remaining on the battlefield but after consulting with Van Dorn decided to withdraw his forces as well and join the remainder of the army in Cross Timber Hollow.
Elkhorn Tavern
Around 9:30 a.m., Cearnal's cavalry battalion in Price's advance guard bumped into a company of the 24th Missouri Volunteer Infantry in Cross Timber Hollow. Soon after, Carr arrived at Elkhorn Tavern with Dodge's brigade right behind. Carr spread out his regiments facing north along the edge of the plateau near the tavern and pulled the 24th Missouri back to cover their left flank at the base of Big Mountain. The Fourth Division commander then sent the 1st Iowa Battery's four guns forward to slow the Confederate advance.
At this point, Van Dorn, instead of rushing Carr's badly outnumbered force with all 5,000 of his available soldiers, became cautious and ordered Price to fully deploy his division, with the Missouri State Guard divisions on the right and the Confederate Missouri brigades on the left. When the Northern guns began firing, Van Dorn ordered his own artillery into action. Soon, 21 Southern guns were pounding the Iowa cannoneers. By the time Price's infantry finally began edging uphill toward the Yankee guns, they met Carr's men advancing downhill in an aggressive counterstroke. The Confederate advance stalled near Elkhorn, but Price's left flank units were marching up Williams Hollow further to the east. Once this force reached the plateau, Carr's right flank would be turned.
By 12:30 p.m., Carr's second brigade, Vandever's, arrived at Elkhorn. The Federal division commander immediately launched this unit in a counterattack on Price's right flank. Superior numbers of Southerners eventually forced Vandever to pull back a short distance uphill. At 2:00 p.m. Van Dorn found out that McCulloch's division would not be meeting Price's at Elkhorn. At this time, Henry Little, on his own initiative, waved his 1st Missouri Brigade forward and the Rebel advance began to roll uphill. These events finally convinced Van Dorn to take more aggressive action. Price was wounded but remained in charge of his left wing while Van Dorn took tactical control of the Confederate right wing. But more time was lost in reorganizing Price's division to attack. Meanwhile, Curtis was rushing small units to Carr's assistance as quickly as he could.
About 4:30 p.m. Price's left emerged from Williams Hollow and attacked, outflanking Carr's line. On the right, Dodge's brigade collapsed after putting up a terrific fight at Clemon's farm. On the left, in equally hard fighting, Vandever's men were steadily pushed back to the tavern and beyond. In the center, Little led his men forward into the teeth of Federal artillery. After being forced back from position after position, Vandever's men finally halted the Confederate drive at Ruddick's field, over a quarter mile south of the tavern. There they were joined by Dodge's men, part of Alexander S. Asboth's 2nd Division and Curtis. At 6:30 p.m., Curtis launched a brief counter-attack, but soon recalled his men in the dark.

C. On March 7, 1864 Red River Campaign: In Louisiana, Gen. Richard Taylor of the Confederate Army is assembling whatever troops he can find at hand, while Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks of the Union forces is readying his Army of the Gulf and a flotilla of gunboats to begin ascending the Red River. Banks, with over 15,000 men, is joined by two divisions (10,000 men) of Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith. Gen. Frederick Steele, at Little Rock, would march with a third column of Federal troops from Arkansas slanting down toward Shreveport. Also, 5,000 Federal cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. Albert Lee would ride north to secure Alexandria, Louisiana, the point where Banks and Smith would converge.

D.
E. On March 7, 1865 The Battle of Wyse Fork, also known as the Battle of Kinston, was a battle fought in the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War, resulting in a Union Army victory from Tuesday March 7 to Friday March 10]. On March 7, Federal advance units encountered General Braxton Bragg's entrenched forces along Southwest Creek east of Kinston. Bragg's position not only blocked Cox's path but threatened a vital cross road and the New Bern-Goldsboro Railroad. Cox saw the importance of this position and moved forward the divisions of Brig. Gen. Innis N. Palmer to protect the railroad and Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Carter to protect the roads. Bragg's forces were also reinforced by veterans from the Army of Tennessee and the North Carolina Junior Reserves, all under the command of General D.H. Hill. Reinforced, Bragg went on the offensive and sent a division under North Carolina native Robert Hoke into the Union left flank. Hoke's attack hit a New England brigade in Carter's division, capturing an entire regiment (the 15th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry). Hill joined the advance with the Junior Reserves but they panicked and refused to go any further. Hill left them behind and moved on with his veterans, hitting the Union brigade and defeating it. Disaster threatened the Union flank when Bragg stopped Hill's advance and sent him far to the north to counterattack a Union threat. When Hill arrived he found no Federals in sight. At this time Cox, who had been away from the front lines, returned and moved up his reserve division under Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger to plug the gap between Palmer and Carter.
FYI Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Lt Col Charlie Brown SPC Woody Bullard Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT Mark Anderson LTC Private RallyPoint Member SSG Donald H "Don" Bates SPC Terry Page CPL Ronald Keyes Jr LTC Private RallyPoint Member CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt David A Asbury SPC Maurice Evans SPC Michael Oles SR PO3 Phyllis Maynard SFC Kathy Pepper CPT Private RallyPoint Member CWO3 Dennis M. PO2 Marco Monsalve SPC Michael Terrell

Response by MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. made Mar 8 at 2022 4:27 AM

2022-03-08T04:27:51-05:00

I chose the Red River Campaign and the Battle of Pea Ridge as the most significant because of the strategic impact each had on the war in Louisiana and Arkansas respectively.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Mar 8 at 2022 4:59 AM

2022-03-08T04:59:40-05:00

I consider the most significant event to be the Red River Campaign in Louisiana as the most significant. In early March the CSA and USA were both in preparations [CSA on defensive and USA joint Army and Navy gunboats and transports preparing to take the offensive]. This campaign was of strategic importance since it eventually cut Texas and Arkansas off from the eastern Confederacy. Lines of communication are important.
Image: Map of the Red River campaign [March 10-April 16, 1864]
FYI CW5 Jack Cardwell Raymond Cox CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member CPT Private RallyPoint Member SMSgt David A Asbury SSG Donald H "Don" Bates 1SG Steven Imerman SSG Ed Mikus SSG Michael Scott CPL Ronald Keyes Jr PO3 Phyllis Maynard SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC Private RallyPoint Member Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM PO1 John Johnson LTG Benjamin Freakley CWO4 Terrence Clark TSgt George Rodriguez LTC Private RallyPoint Member LTC John Griscom

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2022 9:18 AM

2022-03-08T09:18:26-05:00

The seige on Vicksburg divided the Confederacy.