What was the most significant event on September 29 during the U.S. Civil War?

2017-01-10T23:01:25-05:00

Dueling was illegal during the Civil War but that did not stop “gentlemen” from getting into duels. In 1862, Federal Brig Gen Jefferson C. Davis shot to death Brig. General William “Bull” Nelson 2 days after Davis was assigned to work for Brig. General William “Bull” Nelson Davis is arrested, but never tried or convicted for his crime. He went on to command a corps in the Georgia and Carolinas campaign.
On the other hand, in the midst of carnage valor was more commonplace than dueling while uncommon valor at times became more common. In 1864, for valor at the Battle of New Market Heights during the siege of Petersburg Medals of Honor were awarded to 14 African-American soldiers. Two are recorded below:
1. “Private Gardiner earned the Medal of Honor on September 29, 1864, at the battle of Chaffin's Farm / New Market Heights. As the initial attack stalled at the abatis in front of the Confederate works, Colonel Draper tried to get the men to continue the charge but his orders could not be heard over the roar of the battle. All along the lines, White officers were being shot down. Lieutenant Colonel Shirtliff, commander of the 5th U.S.C.T., was mortally wounded. At this critical point in the battle, Black soldiers rose from the ranks to replace the White officers who had been killed or wounded. Sergeant Milton Holland, a 20 year-old from Austin, Texas, took command of Company C, Richmond born, Sergeant Powhatan Beaty, a former slave, took command of Company G, Sergeant James Bronson, a Virginia born 19-year-old from Pennsylvania, led Company D, Sergeant Robert Pimm, an Ohio farmer, led Company I.Inspired by the courage and example of such men as Holland, Beaty, Bronson and Pimm, the Black soldiers surged forward and took the Rebel works. The first to enter the works were Sergeant James H. Harris, Sergeant Edward Ratcliff and Private William H. Barnes of the 38th U.S.C.T. and Private James Gardiner of the 36th U.S.C.T. Sergeant Gardiner demonstrated his courage by rushing in advance of his brigade, he shot a Rebel officer who was on the parapet rallying his men, then charging into the works he ran the same officer through with a bayonet. His men followed him into the Rebel works where they met the enemy face to face, and Black men with arms of iron fought Southern White solders hand to hand with desperate valor. In the end, it was those who held the philosophy that Black men were inferior and fit only to be the slaves of other men that were driven from the field.”
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncusct/medals.htm
2. Corporal James earned the Medal of Honor on September 29, 1864, at the battle of Chaffin's Farm / New Market Heights. For further details of the action see The Battle of New Market Heights. Corporal James' citation reads as follows: Having had his arm mutilated, making immediate amputation necessary, he loaded and discharged his piece with one hand and urged his men forward; this within 30 yards of the enemy works.
Although seriously wounded, having lost his left arm, Sergeant James did not want to be sent home. His people were not yet free and his job was not yet done. He sent a letter to General A. G. Draper requesting he be allowed to stay in the army. General Draper wrote the following letter, which is now in Miles James' service records in the National Archives in Washington D.C.
“Sergeant Miles James, Co. B, 36th U.S.C.T. writes me from your hospital to urge that he be permitted to remain in the service. He lost his left arm in the charge upon New Market Heights, September 29, 1864. If it be possible, I would most respectfully urge that his request be granted. He was made a Sergeant and awarded a silver medal by Major General Benjamin Butler, for gallant conduct. He is one of the bravest men I ever saw; and is in every respect a model soldier. He is worth more with a single arm, than half a dozen ordinary men. Being a Sergeant he will have very little occasion as a file closer to use a musket. He could be a Sergeant of my Provost-Guard, and could do filly duty in many ways. If consistent with your views of duty, I would be greatly obliged if you can make it convenient for him to return to his Regiment.”
General Draper's request was granted and Sergeant James was returned to duty with a Sergeant's sword rather than a musket. He served until October 13, 1865, when he was discharged for disability.”
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncusct/medals.htm
Friday, September 29, 1864 Lt Gen U.S. Grant surprises CSA Gen Robert E. Lee north of the James River. “I hope it will lay no constraint on you,” wrote President Lincoln to General Grant on the morning of this date, “no do harm anyway, for me to say I am a little afraid lest Lee sends re-enforcements to Early, and thus enables him to turn upon Sheridan.”
Philip Sheridan had scored a major victory in the Shenandoah Valley, and had backed Jubal Early’s Confederates nearly out of the Valley itself. Lincoln’s fears were justified. If Early were to be reinforced, and if history was any measure, Sheridan would be whipped back to Washington. But Grant was also aware of such late history and made his reply in the early afternoon:
“I am taking steps to prevent Lee sending re-enforcements to Early by attacking him here.”
This had been in the planning for days. On the 27th, Grant had informed General George Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, that on the morning of the 29th, “a movement will take place intended to surprise and capture the works of the enemy north of the James River between Malvern Hill and Richmond.”
While Grant would direct Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James north of the James River, separating Richmond from Petersburg, Meade was to prepare for a battle of his own. Grant’s instructions, however, were thus far vague.
“As a co-operative movement with this you will please have the Army of the Potomac under arms at 4a.m. on the 29th ready to move in any direction,” Grant began, allowing that they should have up to four days’ worth of rations in their haversacks. Grant originally intended to give Meade specific instructions over which troops and which targets should be selected and attacked, “but, on reflection, I will leave the details to you, stating merely that I want every effort used to convince the enemy that the South Side [rail]road and Petersburg are the objects of our efforts.”
The only real stipulation Grant had was that if the road to Petersburg was open, take it. And whatever ground they held should be maintained.
Almost immediately, things went wrong. Meade was confused by Grant’s suggestive orders. “Do you refer to movements within or without our lines?” he asked. Unstated, at least at first, was that Grant wanted Meade to give the appearance that Butler’s troops on the Union right were actually being shuffled over to Meade on the Union left.
Grant and Butler’s attack was the main thrust. Meade was to exploit it if Lee shifted troops from the south to the north. The next day, Meade made his plans and prepared his forces. He would send two divisions from John Parke’s Ninth Corps, which would be supported by two divisions from Gouverneur K. Warren’s Fifth.
From two Confederate deserters, Meade learned that Lee had done his best to reinforce the lines southwest of Petersburg – near where he planned to hit them, near a farm owned by the Peebles Family and the Poplar Spring Church, north of the Federal left, up the tracks from Reams Station. The Rebels told of two large fortifications and thick hordes of their former comrades lining trenches paralleling the Boydton Plank Road.
This information solidified Grant’s suspicions that Lee still clung to Petersburg and any full on attack by Meade’s Army of the Potomac would be a pointless, bloody mess. It also supported the notion that once Butler made his attack north of the James, Lee would shift troops out of Meade’s way south of Petersburg.
Butler had masterfully kept his own plans a secret. There were no leaks and on the morning of this date, nobody gray suspected a thing. With two full corps, he crossed the James River – the Tenth Corps under David Birney on the right, the Eighteenth under Edward Ord on the left. They slipped across the pontoon bridge near Deep Bottom to direct their blow against New Market Heights.
A line of Confederate entrenchments extended east toward the crossing, but it was held by less than two thousand Rebels. The attack was led by a brigade from the Tenth Corps composed exclusively of black Union troops. They came, but were at first repulsed. Then, once more, they attacked – now reinforced to the strength of a division. The new bulk was so designed that it overcame the Confederate left and pried them from their defenses.
But this was only the work of the Tenth Corps. Ord’s Eighteenth was also on the hunt. Upon crossing the James, they separated, Ord continued west toward Fort Harrison along the main Confederate lines from which the New Market Heights line jutted. This was hardly an attack. Before the Federals were able to launch, the Rebels took notice, fired a few rounds, and escaped to a second line of defenses to the west.
With the Confederate works taken by Ord, and the New Market Heights line in retreat, the Rebels were compacted and able to stop any further Federal gains. But what they had lost was telling enough. Fort Harrison was gone and with it went some small control of the James River.
Lee was faced with two options – he could either do nothing and allow the Federal attacks to go unpunished, or he could strip forces from Petersburg to retake the fort and New Market Heights. “The enemy still hold Battery Harrison on the exterior line,” he wrote late on this date. “Our loss is very small.”
And it was. In all, the Confederates suffered fifty or so casualties to the bloodletting experienced by the attacking Federal forces, which numbered over 850 thus far. It was decided to retake Harrison, and Lee pulled 10,000 men from the Petersburg defenses to do it.
As Lee would attack the following day, so would Meade, taking unknown advantage of the lessened Confederates in the Petersburg lines. Warren and Parke’s men were at the ready and were now awaiting the dawn. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 42, Part 2, p1046-1048; Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant; Meade’s Army by Theodore Lyman; The Last Citadel by Noah Andre Trudeau; The Petersburg Campaign, Vol. 2 by Edwin Bearss.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/grant-surprises-lee-north-of-the-james/
Pictures: 1864-09-29_THREE MEDALS OF HONOR - The Battle of New Market Heights, fought on Thursday September; 1862-09-29 Brig Gen. Jefferson C. Davis kills Brig Gen. William Bull Nelson; 1864-09-29 Battle of New Market Heights map; 1863-09-29 E-lookoutMtn-2

A. 1861: Affair at Travisville, Tennessee. This turned out to be the first military conflict in Tennessee and brought about the first Civil War fatalities in Tennessee, when four Confederate soldiers were killed and four more captured. The prisoners were brought back to Kentucky, when, after taking a solemn obligation to prove faithful to the United States Government, they were released.
B. 1862: Brig Gen William A. 'Bull' Nelson got into an altercation with Brig Gen Jefferson C. Davis at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Davis confronted Nelson, sharp words were exchanged and Nelson slapped Davis on the side of the head. Gen. Davis went outside and borrowed a pistol and went back in and murdered Gen. Nelson with one shot in the heart. Earlier, Brig. Gen. Nelson, a corps commander under Buell, had called for the dismissal of Brig Gen Jefferson C. Davis, commander of the Home Guard Brigade in Louisville, for what Nelson considered dereliction of duty. Davis is arrested, but never tried or convicted for his crime. He will go on to command a corps in the Georgia and Carolinas campaign.
C. 1863: Siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. CSA Gen Braxton Bragg decided upon a siege of Chattanooga, by default (1) knowing how low MG William Rosecrans’ men were in rations and (2) knowing or at least suspecting that significant Federal reinforcements were coming from the eastern theatre. His troops begin to install gun positions on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city of Chattanooga.
D. 1864: Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia. Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia. Union General Ulysses S. Grant tried to break the stalemate around Richmond and Petersburg (25 miles south of Richmond) by attacking two points along the defenses of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Grant selected General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James to make the attack on New Market Heights. Butler ordered General David Birney to attack New Market Heights. Birney began the assault, sending a division of African-American soldiers against New Market Heights. Butler proved correct about the weakness of the Richmond defenses, which were significantly undermanned since most of Lee’s force was protecting Petersburg. The 1,800 Confederate defenders of New Market Heights soon realized the Yankee attack threatened to overrun their position. After a brief battle, they retreated closer to Richmond. At nearby Fort Harrison, Ord’s troops swarmed over the walls of the fort and scattered the 800 inexperienced defenders.
Despite the initial success, the Union attack became bogged down. The leading units of the attack suffered significant casualties, including many officers. The Confederate defenses were deep, and the Yankees faced another set of fortifications. Butler instructed his men to secure the captured territory before renewing the attack. That night, Lee moved several brigades from Petersburg for an unsuccessful counterattack on September 30.
In the end, Union soldiers bent the Richmond defenses but did not break them. Yankee casualties totaled approximately 3,300 of the 20,000 troops engaged, while the Confederates lost around 2,000 of 11,000 engaged. The stalemate continued until the following spring.
FYI SGT Mark Anderson PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Private RallyPoint Member SSgt David M.] SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT Jim Arnold Amn Dale Preisach CW4 Private RallyPoint Member Sgt Jerry Genesio SSG Private RallyPoint Member LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant LTC David Brown LTC Private RallyPoint Member CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC Private RallyPoint Member CPL Ronald Keyes Jr

Medals

Medals of Honor, and other medals won by soldiers of the U.S. Colored Troops from N.C.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jan 10 at 2017 11:04 PM

2017-01-10T23:04:39-05:00

In wartime, keeping pressure on an enemy to either (1) stop them from reinforcing another operational area or (2) draw them to an area away from where you intend to attack is a strategic plus while it may be costly to those involved. In 1864, Lt. Gen U.S. Grant was keeping pressure on Petersburg to stop CSA Gen Robert E. Lee from reinforcing Lt. Gen Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Federal Maj Gen Philip Sheridan was exerting pressure on Early’s forces while the Federals worked to burn the valley crops. Scorched earth was the order of the day in the Shenandoah and in Georgia as Maj Gen William T. Sherman marched his forces to the sea.
In 1863, following the Union defeat at Sabine Pass earlier in the month, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks intended to occupy important locations in Texas. He decided to send troops up the Bayou Teche, disembark them on the plains and march overland to Texas. At Stirling’s Plantation in Western Louisiana, CSA Brig. General Tom Green defeated this Union force handily, but it did not deter Banks from his intended movement.
In 1864, at the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia. In the end, Union soldiers bent the Richmond defenses but did not break them. Yankee casualties totaled approximately 3,300 of the 20,000 troops engaged, while the Confederates lost around 2,000 of 11,000 engaged. The stalemate continued until the following spring.
Sunday, September 29, 1861: North Carolina complains of neglect, Gets D.H. Hill. “Before the hostilities of the early war began, North Carolina’s Governor Henry T. Clark authorized arms to be sent to the front in Virginia. Since the Union invasion of Cape Hatteras, Clark was beginning to think that his state might be more vulnerable than he first suspected.
Over the past week, Clark had sent a flurry of letters to Richmond, imploring the Confederate Government to return the favor. “We have disarmed ourselves to arm you,” wrote Clark on the 27th. He also claimed that his state needed a Navy and was being denied gun powder.
Acting Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin, on this date, replied. He informed Clark that the Navy was coming along, with new ships being built and old ones being converted to warships. Any ship offered to the Confederate Navy by North Carolina, said Benjamin, was being used in the defense of North Carolina.
He moved next to the issue of gun powder, telling Clark that the Confederate arsenals have filled all of North Carolina’s orders for ammunition. He did admit that “we have not been able to furnish your State all the cannon powder you desire, and in this respect you share the fate of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, all of which make the same complaint.
In so many words, Benjamin told Clark that due to the military buildup needed for the fronts “in Missouri, in Kentucky, in Western Virginia, on the Potomac, in the Peninsula below the city [Richmond], on the whole Southern seaboard, in Western Texas” little could be spared for the rest of the states. “I feel sure, that in view of the extended field of labor,” concluded Benjamin, “you will rather be disposed to aid in Patriotic effort to defend your own coast by hearty co-operation than to complain of neglect or injustice which may possibly occur from other causes, but never from the absence of an earnest desire to do everything in our power in defense of your State.”
Part of this “desire to do everything” in defense of North Carolina, Richmond ordered General Daniel H. Hill to command the coastal defenses. Hill, who already had the Confederate victory at Big Bethel under his belt, was given command of 10,000 troops, with large concentrations at Roanoke and Bogue Islands in the Pamlico Sound. [3]
[3] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 4, p660-662.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-in-missouri-retreat-and-advance-north-carolina-complains/
Tuesday, September 29, 1863: CSA Gen Robert E. Lee continues to sort rumors, ponders the west. “Another day had passed and still General Lee was no closer to figuring out just what the Union Army of the Potomac was about. There had been rumors that two corps had been detached to reinforce the Federals under General William Rosecrans at Chattanooga, but, as far as Lee was concerned, these were merely rumors. For days now, he had tried to piece it all together, but on this date he found himself no nearer the truth than before.
“The report has been repeated from the [Shenandoah] valley without giving the circumstances on which it was based,” wrote Lee to President Jefferson Davis. He was referencing the report that had come from Major Harry Gilmore, commanding cavalry at Newtown, Virginia. There was no background and nothing more to go on. Though it specifically mentioned Henry Slocum’s and Oliver Otis Howards corps, and that Joseph Hooker was in overall command, it provided no clues at all as to how Major Gilmore had come across this valuable information.
This wasn’t the only bit of intelligence that Lee had to decipher. Other scouts north of the Rappahannock River were reporting that General Meade wasn’t losing troops at all, but rather gaining them. “Those on the Potomac report a large steamer laden with troops as having passed up the river on the 21st, one on the 22d, one on the 23d, and two on the 25th,” continued Lee, allowing that they “may have been conscripts.”
Still, he held out some hope, and it was clear that he was beginning to sense an opportunity. “If it is true that re-enforcements are being sent from General Meade to General Rosecrans,” suggested Lee, “it shows that the enemy is not as strong as he asserts.”
Leaving that notion aside, Lee was also concerned with Braxton Bragg’s position outside of Chattanooga, opposite Rosecrans. The worry throughout the short Chickamauga Campaign was that Union General Ambrose Burnside would join forces with Rosecrans and outnumber Bragg. Burnside had, of course, been ordered to do just that, but had tarried too long at Knoxville. Now, however, it appeared that he was beginning to move.
Lee had received reports “that Burnside has carried nearly all his troops to re-enforce Rosecrans, leaving only a brigade or two of mounted men between him and Knoxville.” In addition to Burnside, and quite possibly Hooker, Bragg might also have to face General Grant. The Confederates learned through Union prisoners that forces from Grant’s army in Mississippi were en route. This was true, and Lee believed it “probable.” And if true, “General Johnston should be moving either to Bragg or General Rosecrans’ lines,” Lee suggested to the President, referring to Joe Johnston, who was still hovering in Mississippi with his so-called Army of Relief.
In the meantime, Lee had his own army to look after. Though hindered by the loss of James Longstreet, he desperately wanted to launch another offensive. If Meade had been weakened, then the time was now.
Cavalry commander John Imboden’s latest report must have given Lee a clue as to the validity of Major Gilmore’s claim that the Federal XI and XII Corps were headed west. “General Imboden reports that 400 of his cavalry returned yesterday from an expedition north of Winchester,” Lee informed Davis. “They report the railroad too strongly guarded to attack. He reports every bridge in Hampshire with a stronger guard than he can attack successfully.”
On the surface, this was bad news. Imboden’s cavalry could not break up the tracks or destroy bridges. But it might possibly hint as something larger. If reinforcements were being rushed west along the B&O tracks, then a heavy guard would be expected.
With that, Lee would be left to ponder another day, seeking answers that would come quicker than he suspected. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 29, Part 2, p756; Vol. 52, Part 2, p533.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/lee-continues-to-sort-rumors-ponders-the-west/
Below are several journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. … I am including journal entries from Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, "Crocker's Brigade," Sixth Division of the Seventeenth Corps, Army of the Tennessee for each year. I have been spending some time researching Civil War journals and diaries and editing them to fit into this series of Civil War discussions.
Sunday, September, 29, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade, ” “— I went to meeting once more before leaving for camp. After preaching I went to Mr. Moore's, remaining there the rest of the day and stayed over night with John Moore. John presented me with a pocket Bible which he asked me to carry with me. [1]
[1] It proved to be the last time for two years and six months. — A. G. D.
Monday, September 29, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade, ” “We were relieved from picket this morning, and for the first time in several days we rested in camp all day. The weather is hot and sultry, with quite cool nights. The rebel cavalry seems to be all around us, but for fear of getting hurt they keep their distance.”
Monday, September 29, 1862: Union army surgeon Alfred L. Castleman writes in his journal of his furlough to visit his family: “29th.—To-day received the anxiously expected furlough, and now for my dear, dear home, from which I have been absent for nearly a year and a half. Now for a visit to my dear wife and children! I have ridden since night to Hagerstown, where I shall stop till morning, then hie me onward. My hand is very painful and much swollen, but I anticipate no results from it more serious than severe pain.”
Monday, September 29, 1862: Lt, James A. Graham, Co. G of the 27th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Lee’s army, writes home to his father about his regiment’s participation in the Maryland campaign, and how they fared at the Battle of Antietam with high losses: “[After] crossing the Potomac again at Shepherdstown [we] proceeded to Sharpsburg Md and were engaged in the battle there on the 17th. Our Reg’t went into the fight with 299 men and 26 officers, were engaged for 7 hours and lost 87 men & 16 officers killed & wounded. Our men behaved very well and we were very highly complimented by every Gen. on the field.
Our Col. (Cooke) commanded our Right and the 3d. Ark. Reg’t and Gen. Lee said that a charge that our two Reg’ts made changed the fortunes of the day. During the hottest part of the fight the enemy brought up two pieces of artillery to within 250 or 300 yards of us, Col. Cooke ordered our Company and three other Cos on the left to fire upon them and before they could get their pieces into action we had killed every horse hitched to them and about half the men. Our two Reg’ts were then ordered to charge. This we did with a yell and the enemy opposed to us (34th N.Y. & 125th Pa Reg’ts) ran like sheep. We pursued them for nearly half a mile when seeing that we were not supported by other forces and our ammunition giving out we were ordered to fall back to our original position.”
Monday, September 29, 1862: In Bolivar, planter, merchant, diarists, John Houston Bills writes: “E P McNeal is yet in custody on the false charges of being in the Middleburg skirmish, he having take the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. Several witnesses who were taken prisoner at the fight, (Federals) swear positively to the fact of having seen him armed & in the Midde. He proves that he spent the day on his Sunny Side farm, leaving at there at 3 or 4 P.M. and arrested on his return home at Charles Murphey’s. and detained at Esq. Crosses till the next day. This done by the Confederates. One of witnesses (Federal) proved he saw me also, but when recalled to identify me, he selected Mr. Alexander Ramsey as the man he took for me which was equally false, but serves to release me.”
Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “I came in from picket this morning in a rain which continued all day. We learned that a boat twenty miles up the river from Vicksburg, burned and sank last night in mid-stream, with a large number of lives lost. The boat was loaded with provisions for the army here at Vicksburg.”
Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Captain George Lewis, of the 124th Ohio Infantry Regiment, writes in his memoirs of this time in Chattanooga: “Never in the history of the Army of the Cumberland had the spirit of its officers and men been more depressed. The battle of Chickamauga had not only been fought and lost, but we also lost what was more than losing the battle. We had lost confidence in our commander.”
Thursday, September 29, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “We were relieved from picket this morning at 8 o'clock. The men of the Eleventh Iowa have had no pay since leaving Davenport early in the spring, and some of the boys are pretty short of money; but they will get some soon, as the paymaster is expected to arrive any day. The rebels are becoming quite bold around Atlanta and along the railroads as far north as Nashville, Tennessee. It is reported that Hood is going to try to regain some lost ground. General Sherman has sent some of his troops north to reinforce the detachments guarding the railroads. There is no news from General Grant's army.”

Pictures: 1864-09-29 Marker for New Market Heights Battleground; 1863-09-29 Confederate battery position on Lookout Mountain; 1864-09-29 Battle of New Market Heights - Medal of Honor awarded to 14 Colored Soldiers; 1864-09-29 Battle of New Market Heights - Confederates regrouped and came on again applying more pressure

A. Sunday, September, 29, 1861: Affair at Travisville, Tennessee. Travisville lies between Pall Mall, TN and the Kentucky state line, almost in the middle of nowhere; with no major roads or railroads, this area felt insulated from the war and thought it would stay that way. This turned out to be the first military conflict in Tennessee and also brings about the first Civil War fatalities in Tennessee, when four Confederate soldiers are killed, and four more captured. The prisoners were brought back to Kentucky, when, after taking a solemn obligation to prove faithful to the United States Government, they were released.
B. Monday, September 29, 1862: Brig Gen William A. 'Bull' Nelson got into an altercation with Brig Gen Jefferson C. Davis at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. Davis returns later with a gun and shoots and kills Nelson.
Brig. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson, a corps commander under Buell, had called for the dismissal of Brig Gen Jefferson C. Davis (no relation to the Rebel president), commander of the Home Guard Brigade in Louisville, for what Nelson considers dereliction of duty. At the Galt House Hotel, Davis confronts Nelson, sharp words are exchanged, and Nelson slaps Davis on the side of the head. Gen. Davis goes out, borrows a pistol, and comes back in and murders Gen. Nelson with one shot in the heart. Davis is arrested, but never tried or convicted for his crime. He will go on to command a corps in the Georgia and Carolinas campaign.
C. Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. CSA Gen Braxton Bragg decided upon a siege of Chattanooga, by default (1) knowing how low MG William Rosecrans’ men were in rations and (2) knowing or at least suspecting that significant Federal reinforcements were coming from the eastern theatre. His troops begin to install gun positions on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city of Chattanooga.
D. Thursday, September 29, 1864: Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia. Union General Ulysses S. Grant tried to break the stalemate around Richmond and Petersburg (25 miles south of Richmond) by attacking two points along the defenses of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The assault against Richmond, called the Battle of New Market Heights, and the assault against Petersburg, known as the Battle of Poplar Springs Church (or Peeble’s Farm), were both failures. However, they did succeed in keeping pressure on Lee and prevented him from sending reinforcements to the beleaguered Rebel General Jubal Early, who was fighting against General Philip Sheridan in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Grant selected General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James to make the attack on New Market Heights. Butler carefully scouted the network of Confederate fortifications and, after determining that there were weaknesses in Lee’s lines, he instructed General Edward Ord to strike at Fort Harrison, a stronghold in the network, and ordered General David Birney to attack New Market Heights.
Birney began the assault, sending a division of African-American soldiers against New Market Heights. Butler proved correct about the weakness of the Richmond defenses, which were significantly undermanned since most of Lee’s force was protecting Petersburg. The 1,800 Confederate defenders of New Market Heights soon realized the Yankee attack threatened to overrun their position. After a brief battle, they retreated closer to Richmond. At nearby Fort Harrison, Ord’s troops swarmed over the walls of the fort and scattered the 800 inexperienced defenders.
Despite the initial success, the Union attack became bogged down. The leading units of the attack suffered significant casualties, including many officers. The Confederate defenses were deep, and the Yankees faced another set of fortifications. Butler instructed his men to secure the captured territory before renewing the attack. That night, Lee moved several brigades from Petersburg for an unsuccessful counterattack on September 30.
In the end, Union soldiers bent the Richmond defenses but did not break them. Yankee casualties totaled approximately 3,300 of the 20,000 troops engaged, while the Confederates lost around 2,000 of 11,000 engaged. The stalemate continued until the following spring.

1. Sunday, September 29, 1861: Benjamin and Davis Agree to Meet with Johnston. “Secretary Benjamin’s focus was, of course, on the main military fronts. The forces of General Joseph Johnston, arrayed between Manassas and the Potomac near Washington, was of the utmost importance. Joe Johnston’s letter of the 26th, asked for either Benjamin or the President himself to visit the army to better decide whether they should advance or retire.
Benjamin strongly urged Davis to make the trip as Johnston had apparently failed to file “a single return from your [Johnston’s] army of the quantity of ammunition, artillery, means of transportation, or sick in camp or in hospitals, to enable us to form a judgment of what your necessities may be.” Scolding the General, Benjamin concluded that it should be “obvious to you that the Department cannot be administered without a thorough reform in this respect.” [4]
Both he and Davis would soon leave for Johnston’s Army of the Potomac.
[4] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 5, p883.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-in-missouri-retreat-and-advance-north-carolina-complains/
2. Sunday, September 29, 1861: Rebels in Missouri retreat and advance. “Though Union General Fremont’s Army of the West was scattered over much of Missouri, disorganized and confused, it was slowly gathering together. The General himself had left St. Louis and was, like the rest of the Army, heading in the direction of Lexington, scene of the latest Union defeat.
Fremont’s move was no secret. General Sterling Price, commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, knew that he (Price) would soon be outnumbered. Price believed that Fremont was concentrating at Georgetown, sixty miles southeast of Lexington. He also knew of a large Union force at Kansas City, ninety miles west. The risk of being “hemmed in” was too great, and so Price decided to give up the city he took under siege and begin his retreat south towards Arkansas and the Confederates under General Ben McCulloch. [1]
Price wasn’t the only Rebel to notice Fremont’s move. General Albert Sidney Johnston, who commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department, dispatched orders from Columbus, Kentucky to General McCulloch, authorizing him “to muster into service as many armed regiments of Arkansas and Missouri troops” as he could.
Johnston had requested 10,000 troops from the Governor of Arkansas, but had yet to receive a response. It was up to McCulloch to take things into his own hands.
While McCulloch’s orders would, hopefully, protect Price’s retrograde movement and could possibly check Fremont’s progress, Johnston also wanted someone to work behind the lines. For this job, he contacted Missouri State Guard General Jeff Thompson. He left much to Thompson’s discretion, but wanted him to go to the “vicinity of Farmington, on the route to Saint Louis.” Though he was seventy-five miles south of St. Louis, and nearly 300 miles east from Lexington, Johnston still hoped that Thompson could “relieve the pressure of the Federal forces on General Price… and if possible to embarrass their movements by cutting their Ironton Railroad.”
Immediately after receiving the message, Thompson sent out a detail of 120 men to burn railroad bridges around Charleston and Birds Point. [2]
It was quickly being realized that General Price’s victory at Lexington was meaningless.
[1] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 3, p720.
[2] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 3, 708-709.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-in-missouri-retreat-and-advance-north-carolina-complains/
3. Monday, September 29, 1862: New Haven, Kentucky - On September 29, the 3rd Georgia Cavalry, commanded by Col. Martin J. Crawford, was travelling near New Haven. As they arrived there, they were surprised by a larger Union force that was waiting for them. The entire cavalry unit was captured by the Federals.
Crawford had his pay and rank suspended for 3 months for allowing his unit to be captured.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
4. Monday, September 29, 1862: Jefferson Davis shot a man to death today. This was the other Jefferson Davis, a brigadier general in the Union army. Assigned to work for Brig. General William “Bull” Nelson, after only 2 days got into a fight with him; shot and killed him. He got out of murder charges mostly because of a shortage of Union officers with fighting experience.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
5. Monday, September 29, 1862: George Thomas offered command of the Army of the Ohio. He refuses, unaware that Abraham Lincoln had made the offer after receiving a plea for Thomas from 20 officers in the Army of the Ohio.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186209
6. Monday, September 29, 1862: Buckland Mills, Virginia - On September 29, a Union cavalry expedition arrived at Buckland Mills. Once there, they surprised and captured many sick and wounded Confederate soldiers. The Confederates were soon paroled.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
7. Monday, September 29, 1862: Union army surgeon Alfred L. Castleman writes in his journal of his furlough to visit his family: “29th.—To-day received the anxiously expected furlough, and now for my dear, dear home, from which I have been absent for nearly a year and a half. Now for a visit to my dear wife and children! I have ridden since night to Hagerstown, where I shall stop till morning, then hie me onward. My hand is very painful and much swollen, but I anticipate no results from it more serious than severe pain.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1862
8. Monday, September 29, 1862: Lt, James A. Graham, Co. G of the 27th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Lee’s army, writes home to his father about his regiment’s participation in the Maryland campaign, and how they fared at the Battle of Antietam with high losses: “[After] crossing the Potomac again at Shepherdstown [we] proceeded to Sharpsburg Md and were engaged in the battle there on the 17th. Our Reg’t went into the fight with 299 men and 26 officers, were engaged for 7 hours and lost 87 men & 16 officers killed & wounded. Our men behaved very well and we were very highly complimented by every Gen. on the field.
Our Col. (Cooke) commanded our Right and the 3d. Ark. Reg’t and Gen. Lee said that a charge that our two Reg’ts made changed the fortunes of the day. During the hottest part of the fight the enemy brought up two pieces of artillery to within 250 or 300 yards of us, Col. Cooke ordered our Company and three other Cos on the left to fire upon them and before they could get their pieces into action we had killed every horse hitched to them and about half the men. Our two Reg’ts were then ordered to charge. This we did with a yell and the enemy opposed to us (34th N.Y. & 125th Pa Reg’ts) ran like sheep. We pursued them for nearly half a mile when seeing that we were not supported by other forces and our ammunition giving out we were ordered to fall back to our original position.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1862
9. Monday, September 29, 1862: In Bolivar, planter, merchant, diarists, John Houston Bills writes: “E P McNeal is yet in custody on the false charges of being in the Middleburg skirmish, he having take the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. Several witnesses who were taken prisoner at the fight, (Federals) swear positively to the fact of having seen him armed & in the Midde. He proves that he spent the day on his Sunny Side farm, leaving at there at 3 or 4 P.M. and arrested on his return home at Charles Murphey’s. and detained at Esq. Crosses till the next day. This done by the Confederates. One of witnesses (Federal) proved he saw me also, but when recalled to identify me, he selected Mr. Alexander Ramsey as the man he took for me which was equally false, but serves to release me.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
10. Monday, September 29, 1862: After pulling rank, Gen. Earl Van Dorn is able to convince Gen. Sterling Price that their combined armies, under Van Dorn’s command, should move against Corinth and wrest it back from the Yankees. Price has misgivings, because he knows that Grant and Rosecrans have more troops than the Confederates within striking distance to take Corinth back again. The Rebels are outnumbered, but Van Dorn is ignoring the math.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1862
11. Monday, September 29, 1862: A debate ensues in the Confederate House of Representatives over a bill introduced by Rep. Semmes of Louisiana, in which he recommends that the C.S.A. declare the Emancipation Proclamation to be an infamous and “gross violation of the usages of civilized warfare” and that the Confederacy should resort to any and all measures to force the Union to retract it. Semmes apparently feels that the Proclamation gives the South the right to ignore the usual rules of warfare in retaliation. The debate unravels into a general consensus that the South raise the “black flag” and give no quarter for the rest of the war.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1862
12. Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Captain George Lewis, of the 124th Ohio Infantry Regiment, writes in his memoirs of this time in Chattanooga: “Never in the history of the Army of the Cumberland had the spirit of its officers and men been more depressed. The battle of Chickamauga had not only been fought and lost, but we also lost what was more than losing the battle. We had lost confidence in our commander.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1863
13. Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Gen. Halleck sends a dispatch to Gen. Grant, directing him to send troops from the Army of the Tennessee to help Rosecrans---and that he should put a good officer in command of those troops (either Sherman or McPherson), and that Grant should himself go to Tennessee to personally see that things run smoothly.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1863
14. Tuesday, September 29, 1863: Following the Union defeat at Sabine Pass earlier in the month, Maj. General Nathaniel P. Banks (US) intended to occupy important locations in Texas. He decided to send troops up the Bayou Teche, disembark them on the plains and march overland to Texas. At Stirling’s Plantation in Western Louisiana, Brig. General Tom Green (CSA) defeated this Union force handily, but it did not deter Banks from his intended movement. General Grant (US) was ordered to direct towards Chattanooga as many men as he could spare. Grant had pre-empted this command and sent a force led by Sherman.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
15. Thursday, September 29, 1864: Battle of Peebles' Farm, Virginia [9/29 – 10/2, 1864]. Hoping to extend his line westward south of Petersburg, George Meade pushed towards the Southside Railroad. Fighting occured at various farms throughout the rolling hills with most of the action occuring at Wyatt's, Peebles, and Pegram's farms, Chappell House, Poplar Spring Church and Vaughan Road.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
16. Thursday, September 29, 1864: Battle of Fort Harrison, Virginia [9/29-9/30, 1864]. Southeast of Richmond, Fort Harrison was the main bastion of a string of Rebel defenses. 3,000 men under George Stannard [US] swarmed over the fort, capturing it in less that 20 minutes. Robert E. Lee directed a counter-attack the following day that failed to regain the position.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
17. Thursday, September 29, 1864: From the very beginning of the war, Confederate engineers and slave laborers constructed permanent defenses around Richmond, one was over looking the James River at Chaffin’s Bluff. Grant had attacked here before without success. Today, he attacks at New Market and Chaffin’s Farm. Grant (US) sends troops north of the James River to attack at the Chaffin’s Farm, also small Fort Harrison is captured by the Union, fighting at New Market and at Laurel Hill. At Confederate Fort Gilmer (CSA) the South finally halts the Union advances and the Confederate lines are stretched to the breaking point. Union forces took three miles of land in just one day in their attack on Richmond. General Lee believes that he was delaying the inevitable. At Waynesboro, Virginia, Lieut. General Jubal A. Early (CSA) and Major General Philip H. Sheridan (US) continue to fight. Some fighting near Lynchburg, Tennessee with General Forrest, but no record of him stopping to see Jack (Daniel’s.)
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181

A Sunday, September 29, 1861: TN Affair at Travisville (Pickett County): Travisville lies between Pall Mall, TN and the Kentucky state line, almost in the middle of nowhere; with no major roads or railroads, this area felt insulated from the war and thought is would stay that way. This turned out to be the first military conflict in Tennessee and also brings about the first Civil War fatalities in Tennessee, when four Confederate soldiers are killed, and four more captured. The prisoners were brought back to Kentucky, when, after taking a solemn obligation to prove faithful to the United States Government, they were released.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-five
B Monday, September 29, 1862: General William A. 'Bull' Nelson gets into an altercation with General Jefferson C. Davis at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. Davis returns later with a gun and shoots and kills Nelson.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186209
B+ Monday, September 29, 1862: Brig. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson, a corps commander under Buell, has called for the dismissal of Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (no relation to the Rebel president), commander of the Home Guard Brigade in Louisville, for what Nelson considers dereliction of duty. At the Galt House Hotel, Davis confronts Nelson, sharp words are exchanged, and Nelson slaps Davis on the side of the head. Gen. Davis goes out, borrows a pistol, and comes back in and murders Gen. Nelson with one shot in the heart. Davis is arrested, but never tried or convicted for his crime. He will go on to command a corps in the Georgia and Carolinas campaign.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1862
C Tuesday, September 29, 1863: By this point in time, Bragg has decided upon a siege of Chattanooga, by default, knowing how low Rosecrans’ men are in rations. His troops begin to install gun positions on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city of Chattanooga.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+29%2C+1863
D Thursday, September 29, 1864: Union General Ulysses S. Grant tries to break the stalemate around Richmond and Petersburg (25 miles south of Richmond) by attacking two points along the defenses of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The assault against Richmond, called the Battle of New Market Heights, and the assault against Petersburg, known as the Battle of Poplar Springs Church (or Peeble’s Farm), were both failures. However, they did succeed in keeping pressure on Lee and prevented him from sending reinforcements to the beleaguered Rebel General Jubal Early, who was fighting against General Philip Sheridan in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Grant selected General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James to make the attack on New Market Heights. Butler carefully scouted the network of Confederate fortifications and, after determining that there were weaknesses in Lee’s lines, he instructed General Edward Ord to strike at Fort Harrison, a stronghold in the network, and ordered General David Birney to attack New Market Heights.
Birney began the assault, sending a division of African-American soldiers against New Market Heights. Butler proved correct about the weakness of the Richmond defenses, which were significantly undermanned since most of Lee’s force was protecting Petersburg. The 1,800 Confederate defenders of New Market Heights soon realized the Yankee attack threatened to overrun their position. After a brief battle, they retreated closer to Richmond. At nearby Fort Harrison, Ord’s troops swarmed over the walls of the fort and scattered the 800 inexperienced defenders.
Despite the initial success, the Union attack became bogged down. The leading units of the attack suffered significant casualties, including many officers. The Confederate defenses were deep, and the Yankees faced another set of fortifications. Butler instructed his men to secure the captured territory before renewing the attack. That night, Lee moved several brigades from Petersburg for an unsuccessful counterattack on September 30.
In the end, Union soldiers bent the Richmond defenses but did not break them. Yankee casualties totaled approximately 3,300 of the 20,000 troops engaged, while the Confederates lost around 2,000 of 11,000 engaged. The stalemate continued until the following spring.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-new-market-heights-chaffins-farmfort-harrison
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Trent Klug SFC Bernard WalkoSSG Franklin Briant SSG Byron Howard Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle Montgomery PO2 Marco Monsalve SPC Woody Bullard SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM Sgt Christopher Collins SPC Private RallyPoint Member SPC Gary C. PO3 Lynn Spalding

Rebels in Missouri Retreat and Advance; North Carolina Complains

Sunday, September 29, 1861 Though Union General Fremont’s Army of the West was scattered over much of Missouri, disorganized and confused, it was slowly gathering together. The General himsel…

Response by SFC George Smith made Jan 10 at 2017 11:08 PM

2017-01-10T23:08:02-05:00

Thanks For The History Lesson..

Response by SFC William Farrell made Jan 10 at 2017 11:20 PM

2017-01-10T23:20:23-05:00

I like the MOH part LTC Stephen F.

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Jan 10 at 2017 11:38 PM

2017-01-10T23:38:35-05:00

Good evening and thank you for the great read.

Response by TSgt Joe C. made Jan 11 at 2017 12:18 AM

2017-01-11T00:18:54-05:00

Great read on Civil War history once again LTC Stephen F.. I selected all choices this afternoon.

Response by 1stSgt Eugene Harless made Jan 11 at 2017 2:31 AM

2017-01-11T02:31:13-05:00

The beginning of the Siege of Chatanooga and Grant extending the front at Petersburg and Forcing Lee to Extend his army further are a tie in my opinion. As a side note I had the pleasure of Meeting General Edward O. C. Ord's great Grandson at a Civil war Reenactment in California. He was up in years and the organizers had let him set up a display of artifacts of his Ancestor,, I was actuallky asble to hold two of the generals presentation swords he got from his men during the war.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jan 11 at 2017 6:55 AM

2017-01-11T06:55:10-05:00

Everyday is a great day reading your civil war history shares.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 3 at 2022 2:54 PM

2022-10-03T14:54:05-04:00

Thank you for sharing.

Response by LTC Trent Klug made Oct 3 at 2022 3:57 PM

2022-10-03T15:57:23-04:00

Dueling during war, and as general officers!? Wait, lemme get my popcorn!