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

September casualties were very costly to both North and South, with a total of 22,505 casualties in 1863 and 14,000 casualties in 1864.
In 1863, Nathan Bedford Forrest’s confederate cavalry was merged with Fightin Joe Wheeler’s cavalry. The former, were decimated in strength of numbers and worn out. They had been pushed hard for some time and needed to be refurbished in spirit as well as in material.
In 1864, US Grant is pushing at Petersburg both to break the defenses and to keep the Confederates from reinforcing Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley.
1. Battle of New Market Heights (Chaffin’s Farm/Fort Harrison) [9/29 to 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 than 20 minutes. Robert E. Lee directed a counter-attack the following day that failed to regain the position.
2. Battle of Poplar Springs Church (Peeble’s Farm) [9/30 to 10/1/1864] Hoping to extend his line westward south of Petersburg, George Meade pushed towards the Southside Railroad. Fighting occurred at various farms throughout the rolling hills with most of the action occurring at Wyatt's, Peebles, and Pegram's farms, Chappell House, Poplar Spring Church and Vaughan Road.
At Poplar Springs Church, Virginia. G. K. Warren's [US] 5th Corps and John Parke's [US] 9th Corps are attacked by A. P. Hill [CS] at Squirrel Level Road southwest of Petersburg. Warren and Parke did extend the siege lines.

Wednesday, September, 30, 1863: CSA Gen Braxton Bragg begins to clean house while Richmond tries to calm him. With Union reinforcements coming toward Chattanooga from three different directions, this hardly seemed like the best time for Confederate General Braxton Bragg to plunge his entire command structure into chaos. Yet, that is more or less what he did.
Though he had been victorious against William Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga, he was far from pleased with the performances of Generals Leonidas Polk and Thomas Hindman. The former, being a corps commander, received most of his wrath. Hindman, however, was not at all exempt, being, in Bragg’s mind, fully responsible for the debacle at McLemore’s Cove on the 18th.
Just two short days after the battle, Bragg demanded that Polk explain why he did not make the morning attack as ordered on the 20th. General Polk put off replying for a few days, prompting Bragg to ask again.
While Bragg was trying to oust two of his generals, four of his generals were trying to oust him. Around the 26th, Generals Polk, along with D.H. Hill, James Longstreet and Simon Buckner were working behind the scenes to convince Richmond to find a replacement for Bragg. Longstreet, being the most respected general of the bunch, wrote both Richmond and General Robert E. Lee asking that Lee be sent west to command.
Their plans were, however, stymied when Bragg, unsatisfied with Polk’s version of the story, tried to suspend both Polk and Hindman. When Richmond caught wind of this (on the 29th), they tried to diffuse the situation by informing Bragg that he had no authority to suspend one of his officers. His only power in this case was to arrest them. However, Bragg had to “show cause by preferring charges as prescribed.” Apparently, Davis figured that Bragg would back down if he actually had to draw up formal charges. In this, Davis was mistaken.
That same day, Polk was charged with disobedience of command and neglect of duty. According to Bragg, Polk disobeyed the command to attack at dawn and instead attacked at 10am. Furthermore, he had to be told twice. The neglect of duty charge was tacked on by Bragg, noting that Polk failed to tell him that the order would not be followed.
This whole ordeal would drag on for weeks. Bragg requested statements from a number of generals, hoping to prove to Davis that Polk had to be dismissed. In the meantime, Polk was to remove himself to Atlanta to await the outcome. Bragg, somewhat victorious, would soon make moves against other generals, while Longstreet made moves against Bragg. For a time, Davis considered personally dropping in on Bragg for a visit, but decided to wait, sending Col. James Chesnut instead.
And while the Rebels fought each other, the Federals were quickly gathering (though not without a bit of squabbling and axing). [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 30, Part 2, p55-56, 64-65; The Army of Tennessee by Stanley F. Horn; Autumn of Glory by Thomas Lawrence Connelly.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/bragg-begins-to-clean-house-while-richmond-tries-to-calm-him/
Friday, September 30, 1864: Lt Gen U.S. Grant tries the other flank at Petersburg, VA. “Following the previous day’s loss of Fort Harrison between Richmond and Petersburg, General Lee was quickly pulling entire brigades from the southerly Petersburg lines to retake the works. Their removal began the evening past, and with their egress came the discovery by Federal cavalry.
General Meade correctly deduced that the troops that had been reportedly moving toward Richmond, and likely toward Fort Harrison, were from a reserve division under Robert Hoke. This meant that while the Rebels were down several brigades, they were still at full strength along the lines south of the city. These were the lines General Grant wanted Meade to attack.
Come the dawn of this date, Grant was ready for Meade to make his move. “You may move out now and see if an advantage can be gained,” wrote Grant to Meade. “It seems to me the enemy must be weak enough at one or the other place to let us in.”
And so Meade set out in two columns, marching west from near Fort Wadsworth. Leading was the Fifth Corps, commanded by Gouverneur K. Warren. Their objective was the line of fortifications guarding the Boydton Plank Road, one of the few remaining thoroughfares from which the Rebels drew their supplies.
The previous day’s reconnaissance had taught them that the Confederate Fort Archer, located near Peebles Farm, wouldn’t fall so easily. With this in his mind, General Warren halted his corps, arrayed them for the attack, lining them along Squirrel Level Road, and waited to be joined by John Parkes’ Ninth Corps. Hours would slip slowly by.
It was over these same hour that Lee was assembling his own strength to recapture Fort Harrison. It would more or less be under the command of Charles Field and Robert Hoke, though coordination was sorely lacking. Though they would attack, little would come of it. It was a disorganized representation of everything that had become of Lee’s forces. No longer could Lee simply point to a spot and order it to be taken. Those who could interpret such orders were dead or shuffled off to some other theater. The fort would not fall.
And even before Lee’s men stepped off, Warren launched his attack. Though he had assembled two corps, it was undertaken by one division, that of Charles Griffin. They sprang through the yard of Poplar Springs Church and scrambled toward Fort Archer, quickly devouring the earthen work. As the fort was the foundation of the Confederate left, the line around it began to crumble, and the Rebels were in quick retreat to a second line of defenses nearer the Boydton Plank Road.
Warren dressed his lines and occupied the fort, counted the dead and the captured Rebels. He reported his victory, and assured Meade he was not willing to simply rest on his laurels. “I will push up as fast as I can get my troops in order toward Petersburg on the Squirrel Level road,” he wrote at 2:20pm. But he waited again for Parkes’ Corps, which was steadily moving in on his left. Before 3pm, Parke was pushing “straight for the pike.”
But on the other side of the pike, the Rebels were not simply running. They were not even simply resting. Generals Henry Heth and Wade Hampton were planning to strike the Federals and retake Fort Archer. As Hampton advanced his cavalry, Heth dispatched three brigades in a seeming line of defense, ready to receive the coming foe. Upon the order to advance, however, the true intent was understood.
It was not long before they encountered the Federal skirmishers. But they had moved with speed and stealth and when the Rebel Yell finally tore through the air, the Federals were blindsided. It sent most of Warren’s Corps into a retreat, throwing them back upon Parkes’, which was still sorting themselves out behind them. Soon the chaos spread and even the Ninth Corps was disintegrating. Soon, all of Meade’s troops might be swept from the field.
Heth pushed southerly now, focusing his strength upon Parke. For nearly a mile the Rebels pushed them, but the men had become exhausted in their victory. There was little order and almost no energy remaining for another thrust. Darkness was at hand and the battle ground to its slow and bloody halt.
For Warren and Meade, this was still a victory and would be remembered as such from that day. But he had Warren and Parke withdraw to more secure positions and wired Grant of the news. Previously, he had informed the commander of Warren’s great success. Now, however, things had changed.
“About 4pm General Parke was advancing to the Boydton plank road when he was vigorously attacked by the enemy, said by prisoners to have been two divisions of Hill’s corps,” wrote Meade to Grant. “The fighting for some time till after dark was very severe, and after the Ninth Corps rallied and Griffin attacked it is believed the enemy suffered heavily.”
In reply Grant informed Meade that he “need not advance tomorrow unless in your judgment an advantage can be gained, but hold on to what you have, and be ready to advance.”
Grant then explained his current thinking: “We must be greatly superior to the enemy in numbers on one flank or the other, and by working around at each end, we will find where the enemy’s weak point is.” [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 42, Part 2, p1093, 1118, 1121, 1131; 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-tries-the-other-flank/

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.
Monday, September 30, 1861: Robert E. Lee wrote to CSA Gen Floyd that he wished William Rosecrans would attack him, but sincerely doubted that he would. “I begin to fear the enemy will not attack us.” “We shall therefore have to attack him.” Lee reasoned that if a week’s worth of provisions could somehow be procured, they could move around Rosecrans’ flank and attack his rear. “We had now reached the fall of the year, and the nights were already very cold,” recalled Lee’s aide, Walter Taylor. “As before stated, our camp equipage was exceedingly limited, as were our supplies of all kinds. One very cold night, as we drew close to our camp fire, General Lee suggested that it was advisable to make one bed, put our blankets together in order to have sufficient covering to make us comfortable, and so it happened that it was vouchsafed to me to occupy very close relations with my old commander, and to be able to testify to his self-denial and his simplicity of life in those days of trial for all.”
Monday, September 30, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “I left home early this morning for Tipton, where at 10 o'clock about one hundred of us, with a band, left Tipton in farm wagons for Wilton, which place we reached at 4 o'clock, all covered with mud. At 5 o'clock we took the train for Davenport and arrived there at 8 o'clock. We formed in double line at the station and marched through town past the Burtis Hotel, on up to Camp McClellan, where we went into the barracks. As we passed the hotel every other man was handed a good wool blanket.”
Monday, September 30, 1861: Hardeman County plantation owner/ planter, merchant, and civic leader, John Houston Bills (The Pillars) wrote in his dairy: “Our Civil war is assuming immense proportions. I think not less than 800,000 men in the field; say 425,000 on the Federal Side & 375,000 on the side of the South. Our governor Harris calls for 30,000 more. I can see nothing but ruin to both sides from the Wicked Course being pursued.”
Monday, September, 30, 1861: Governor of Arkansas Henry M. Rector wrote a dispatch to the new Secretary of War for the Confederacy. Instead of adding a narrative or interpretation to what Rector had to say on this date in 1861, the whole of the letter is presented to our readers for two reasons: first of all we do not want to misinterpret what is written and secondly, it is important for our readers to read this interesting primary source: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Little Rock, September 30, 1861. Honorable SECRETARY OF WAR of the Confederate States: “SIR: In accordance with suggestions contained in a communication addressed to me by your predecessor, bearing date the 5th instant, I issued a proclamation calling for five regiments of men designed for General McCulloch’s command, and so informed the general, a copy of the letter addressed to him being inclosed to your Department.
On the 10th instant a proclamation was also issued by General McCulloch calling for 15,000 men from the State of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas-a printed copy herewith transmitted*-the 5,000 from Louisiana to be rendezvoused at the capital of this government, whether organized or to be assembled here as a mass of individuals I have not been apprised. The authorities of Arkansas were neither consulted as to the property of making this call nor advised in any manner that such was the purpose of the general.
To all demands made upon me by the Confederate Government I have therefore and shall continued to comply with as a constitutional duty, besides the personal gratification it affords of being able to minister something to the great cause in which we are all engaged. To the gallantry and patriotism of General McCulloch none can accord higher admiration than myself; nevertheless, I esteem it to be my duty, as the executive of this State, irrespective of considerations personal to myself, to express my disapproval of the attitude assigned the authorities of this government and that assumed for Confederate officers in the proclamation alluded to. May idea of the rights relatively belonging to the States and to the Confederate Government is that those pertaining to the former were by no means abridged by the withdrawal from the old Confederacy an a union with the new Government, but that all theretofore claimed upon the most liberal construction were conceded, both upon policy and principle.
The history of the United States, I believe, furnishes no precedent for the raising of men by proclamation emanating from generals commanding nor from the President. If such had been law or precedent, the intervention of State authority would doubtless have been dispensed with by Mr. Lincoln in his demand for troops from Arkansas. Such, fortunately, was not the practice or the law; and with all deference I submit that no example by authority ought to mar the next sheet of Confederate history.
I am aware that, by an act of the Provisional Congress, approved 28th February last, the President is authorized to receive into the service of the Government such forces then in the service of the States as might be tendered, “or who may volunteer by consent of their State,” meaning its authorities; but I am unadvised if legislation has trenched so far upon State prerogative as to authorize the calling of troops by any but State authority, and shall, if such is the law, reluctantly yield my assent to so serious an innovation upon State rights.
But, apart from policy and law, the practice is attended with discordant effort, confusion, contrariety of opinion, unsatisfactory results, and great waste and improvidence in expending the resources of the country. For instance, if the men called for by General McCulloch are raised by him, those assembled by my proclamation, after great expense to the State and sacrifice to the citizen, will be useless, and have to be disbanded. Again, if General McCulloch may issue proclamation, so may one or a dozen other officers do likewise, destroying all harmony of action, and putting aside State authority entirely. Again, an economy of men henceforth will be as important as that of money. Illy-advised calls, appealing strenuously to the people of particular sections of this State which have sent but few men to the field; others, by applying constant stimulants, have already turned out an overdue proportion. Of these facts Confederate generals can know nothing, whilst the right and knowledge for discrimination rest exclusively with the authorities of the States, and cannot be so well lodged anywhere else.
On a former occasion, July —, General McCulloch issued a proclamation calling for the entire military force of the State, evidently with the most laudable purposes, which met with approval from the necessity of the case, not deeming it probable that an isolated act would ripen into settled practice. I though it unnecessary to call attention to it at Richmond, unless supervenient facts determined that that call was assumed to have been made by an exercise of rightful authority, which now seems to be apparent. There are other persons and officers of the confederate Government of lesser rank then General McCulloch who, claiming to act by direction of your Government, are issuing addresses and proclamations, calling for troops from Arkansas, all which perplex and distract the minds and loyal purposes of the people, and are highly detrimental to the public service and offensive to the rights and dignity of this Government. In view of al which, I beg leave most sincerely and respectfully to request that henceforward all demands which it may be though proper to make upon this State for troops for Confederate service may be addressed to the proper authorities thereof, land that the military officers placed upon our frontiers be advised of the propriety in future of addressing themselves to such authorities in the procurement of troops needed for the Confederate Army.
Very respectfully, H. M. RECTOR, Governor of Arkansas.”
Colonel Cooper, the commander of the Confederate troops, was a former Indian agent and led Confederate Indian troops throughout the War. After the War he lived in the Indian Territory and was an ardent supporter of Choctaw and Chickasaw land claims against the Federal government. Here is his report on the battle: “HEADQUARTERS FIELD DIVISION, Camp Coffee, Mo., October 2, 1862. GENERAL: In conformity with orders from Brigadier-General Rains the troops under my command marched from camp at Scott’s Mill, Mo., on the morning of September 24, and moved northward by way of Pineville, for the purpose of forming a junction with Colonel Shelby (who was at that time in command of a brigade of Missouri cavalry), which was effected on the evening of the 26th at the Big Spring, head of Indian Creek.
I assumed command on the 27th. Colonel Hawpe’s Texas regiment and Major Bryan’s Cherokee Battalion were ordered to Newtonia, having made it an outpost, and the mill at that place was put in operation for the purpose of supplying the command with breadstnffs, which it did abundantly.
Everything remained quiet until the 29th, when the enemy’s scouts appeared near Newtonia, but were at once driven back by a detachment from that place. It was reported at the same time that a body of Pin Indians and Federals were at Granby. It being important that we should hold Granby, on account of the valuable lead mines at that place, Colonel Stevens was sent, with his regiment of cavalry, to make a reconnaissance of the place, and if practicable to dislodge the enemy. He reached the vicinity of Granby after dark, but found no enemy.
On the morning of the 30th the enemy appeared in force in front of Newtonia and made a vigorous attack upon the troops at that place both with artillery and small-arms, which was promptly replied to by Captain Bledsoe’s battery of two guns, supported by Colonel Hawpe’s and Major Bryan’s commands, who were posted behind the stone fence. At the time of the attack I was en route for Granby, having with me Colonel Alexander’s Texas cavalry regiment, with the intention of taking possession of and holding that place. Upon hearing the firing we hastened to the scene of action. We found our forces hotly pressed by superior numbers of the enemy. Colonel Alexander was at once ordered to take position below the mill on the right, which was obeyed with alacrity under a strong fire of grape and Minie balls. The enemy’s infantry had now possession of some of the buildings in the suburbs of the village, their sharpshooters being near enough to pick off our artillerymen from their guns. Colonel Alexander’s regiment was forced to remount and fall back to the support of Bledsoe’s battery, taking position behind the stone fence east of Ritchie’s house to the right of the battery, Major Bryan’s battalion being on the left, Colonel Hawpe’s regiment occupying the stone barn and yard in front of Ritchie’s house. Captain Bledsoe, with his artillerymen, stood gallantly to their guns until the last shot was expended, showering grape and canister among the advancing foe, and when forced to fall back out of range of the enemy’s sharpshooters, when ordered to do so, came promptly into battery on the ridge about 150 yards to the right and rear of their former position, near the road from Newtouia to the Big Spring (Camp Coffee), by the way of Dr. Harmon’s, though without a solitary shot in their caissons. The effect of this was at once apparent in checking the Federal cavalry on our left, who had commenced advancing the moment they saw the battery retiring. Captain Bledsoe continued to occupy that position under a heavy fire from the enemy’s batteries until the close of the action. Colonel Hawpe at this juncture received orders to charge the enemy’s infantry, and at the head of his men at once went gallantly into the charge. Leaping the stone fence, they met the enemy, when a sharp fight took place; but being exposed to the fire of the enemy’s artillery, as well as infantry, were compelled, after succeeding in checking his advance, to fall back to their original position, under cover of the stone fence. At this moment the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Walker, entered the town at full gallop, passed through without halting, singing their war-songs and giving the war-whoop, and under my personal direction at once engaged the enemy under a heavy fire from artillery and infantry. Colonel Shelby’s Missouri regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon commanding, had in the mean time arrived on the field and taken position on the right, flanking the enemy. That, with the charge of the Choctaws, soon drove them from the town and put them to flight, followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Walker and his men.
At this moment Colonel Stevens’ regiment from Granby appeared on our left, and having received orders to charge the enemy, moved forward rapidly and arrived in time to participate in the pursuit. Lieutenant Colonel Gordon, not being aware that Colonel Stevens was in that direction, mistook his for a Federal regiment. Perceiving this, my son (Dr. Cooper) and my aide (Lieutenant Heiston) were sent by different routes to inform him that it was one of our own regiments, when he again moved forward. The delay occasioned by this mistake alone enabled the Federals to get off the field with their batteries and the reminant of their troops. The enemy now fled in confusion from the field, closely followed by our troops, the Choctaws in the center, the Missourians on the right, and Stevens’ regiment on the left. We captured a number of prisoners and strewed the woods and road with dead and wounded. Large numbers of arms were also captured, thrown away by the enemy in their flight. The enemy’s infantry (Ninth Wisconsin) were nearly all destroyed, being either killed or taken prisoners. The pursuit continued near 6 miles, when the enemy, meeting heavy re-enforcements, rallied his broken columns and again returned to the field.
I had in the mean time been re-enforced by Colonel Jeans’ Missouri cavalry and Captain Howell’s four-gun battery, which took position at the grave-yard on the north side of the town, the enemy occupying the elevated ridge 1 mile north. His force was greatly superior to ours. His artillery consisted of three batteries, which soon opened upon us, and was ably replied to by Captain Howell, who sustained their concentrated fire during the afternoon engagement, never abandoning a position except when ordered to do so. The men handled their guns with the greatest coolness and celerity. He lost many of his horses and some of his men; among them Sergt. Felix S. Heiston, who was particularly distinguished for his bravery and soldier-like bearing. He was killed at his gun by a cannon-ball. Stevens’ and Jeans’ regiments were ordered to attack the enemy’s cavalry on their right, assisted by Bledsoe’s battery. At this time a large body of men were seen coming in on our left and rear, which proved to be Colonel Folsom who had been ordered up from Scott’s Mill. Colonel Stevens was ordered to reconnoiter and ascertain who they were. In the mean time a few shots from Bledsoe’s battery, supported by Gordon’s cavalry, dispersed the enemy’s cavalry, who were threatening our left on the Granby road.
About this time the enemy had sent unperceived two regiments of Pin Indians and jayhawkers upon my right, supported by masses of infantry. They obtained possession of some bushes and stone fencing on the spring branch below the mill. Their object was to turn my right, where the Choctaws were posted. Just at this time Colonel Folsom’s Choctaw regiment arrived, and by passing through a corn field succeeded unperceived in getting very close to the enemy on our right. The engagement soon became general between the two Choctaw regiments and the jayhawkers and hostile Indians. At the same time the enemy opened all his batteries, under cover of which he advanced blocks of infantry to the support of those regiments which had been previously sent to my right. The battle was now raging in all parts of the field. Their masses of infantry could be plainly seen advancing in perfect order, with guns and bayonets glittering in the sun. The booming of cannon, the bursting of shells, the air filled with missiles of every description, the rattling crash of small-arms, the cheering of our men, and the war-whoop of our Indian allies, all combined to render the scene both grand and terrific.
Seeing the enemy’s infantry advancing at double-quick to re-enforce their left, I at once ordered Captain Howell to send two of his guns to take position in the corn field and shell the enemy out before their infantry could arrive. This was soon effected and the enemy fleeing from the field. At the same time the other guns under Lieutenant Routh were turned upon his advancing columns and on the jayhawkers and Pin Indians, who had been thrown in advance, but were now in full flight. Lieutenant-Colonel Buster, with his battalion, now arrived, and throwing out on the right the two Choctaw regiments and Colonel Stevens’ regiment, on the left Colonels Jeans’ and Gordon’s Missouri regiments and Hawpe’s Texas regiment, placing Colonel Alexander’s regiment and Buster’s battalion with the artillery in the center, the enemy was pursued over the prairie a distance of 3 miles to the timber.
By this time it was night. The enemy had planted a battery so as to command the road and as we approached opened on us, but owing to the darkness did little execution. Getting the direction from the flash of the guns, Captain Howell was ordered into battery and threw a few shells into them, fired somewhat at random, but which it was afterward ascertained exploded among them, killing a number of men and horses. They now fled in confusion, leaving the road, passing through fields and woods, and abandoning loaded wagons by the way wedged between trees. Their flight continued until they reached Sarcoxie, Jasper County, a distance of 12 miles. The engagement lasted from sunup until dark, with the exception of an interval of two hours. The enemy’s force in this engagement, from the best information, derived from Federal sources, amounted to from 6,000 to 7,000 men, with eighteen pieces of cannon while our own force did not exceed 4,000 men during any part of the day, with only six pieces of cannon.
The thanks of the country are due the troops engaged in this battle for the bravery and coolness displayed in the face of an enemy greatly their superior in numbers. Of the officers it is enough to say that all, with a few exceptions, did their duty.
It is difficult to particularize where each seemed to vie with the other in deeds of bravery; but I cannot close this report without mentioning the gallant bearing of Lieutenant-Colonel Walker, of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment. He was always found at the head of his regiment in the thickest of the fight, encouraging his men by his words and actions. He remained on horseback during the whole day and escaped unhurt. My acknowledgments are also due to Colonels Alexander and Hawpe, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Lewellyn and Major Stone of Stevens’ Texas regiment, and to Colonel [B. G.] Jeans and Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon of the Missouri Brigade, and Major Bryan, of the Cherokee Battalion, for the coolness and courage displayed by them on the field wherever duty called them, and to Lieutenant-Colonel Buster, who arrived by forced marches from Maysville in time to participate in the pursuit.
Colonel Shelby was left in command at Camp Coffee, and deserves great credit for his promptness in sending re-enforcements and guarding the camp from an apprehended attack of the enemy. Capt. John Wallis, Colonel Stevens’ regiment, was severely wounded while charging the enemy at the head of his company, but his wound is not considered dangerous. Captain Duncan, of Colonel Hawpe’s regiment, lost a leg in the engagement while gallantly charging the enemy. Much praise is also due Capt. Martin Folsom, of the First Choctaw Regiment, for the distiuguished bravery shown by him in the engagement in the corn field. We have to mourn his loss, which will be severely felt by his regiment. He was wounded late in the day and has since died. Capt. William B. Pitchlynn, of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, also behaved with distinguished gallantry. My acknowledgments are also due Captain Crisp, of Colonel Coffee’s Missouri regiment, and to Lieut. Col. John Henderson, of the Missouri State Guard (General Rains’ staff), who reported to me on the field, for the valuable services rendered in carrying orders, in leading troops, and placing them in position. My son, Dr. D. J. Cooper, of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiment, was constantly with me, and rendered efficient service on the field. The artillery of Captains Howell and Bledsoe was admirably handled, and much credit is due those officers for the efficiency of their batteries.
Of my personal staff I can speak in the highest praise. They behaved with their usual coolness and courage. Capt. J. W. Wells, my adjutant-general, was left at the camp in the morning, a battle not then being expected, and afterward assisted Colonel Shelby in forwarding re-enforcements. He joined me before the evening engagement and rendered valuable services during the action. Lient. C. H. Tiner and my aide, Lient. T. B. Heiston, were also conspicuous for their gallantry and courage, and rendered efficient service. To Capts. J. W. Coarser and F. W. Miner my acknowledgments are also due for valuable services rendered during the battle in bearing orders.
The medical staff, under the direction of Dr. J. G. Russell, were prompt in their attention to the wounded. Not only our own but those of the enemy were removed from the field and had the same care shown them as our own.
Referring to the accompanying report for a list of the killed and wounded, I am, general, very respectfully,
DOUGLAS H. COOPER, Colonel, Commanding”
https://almostchosenpeople.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/september-30-1862-first-battle-of-newtonia/
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “Nothing of importance. We received orders to drill.”
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Now that the Maryland campaign is over, the squabble between Stonewall Jackson and A.P. Hill is revived. Jackson has not pressed charges, but Hill still rankles over the insult, and demands that a court of inquiry in order to clear his name. He writes to General Lee: “I respectfully say to the general that I deny the truth of every allegation made by Major-General Jackson, and am prepared to prove my denial by any number of honorable men, including members of General Jackson's own staff. If General Jackson had accorded me the courtesy of asking an explanation of each instance of neglect of duty as it occurred, I think that even he would have been satisfied, and the necessity avoided of keeping a black-list against me. It is hardly necessary to remark that these charges made by General Jackson are of a serious character, involving my reputation and standing as an. . . . I again respectfully, reiterate my request for a court of inquiry, to involve the matter of these additional allegations, and ask that a speedy answer be given me.”
Jackson, having read Hill’s letter, adds his own to it, apparently not as keen on preferring charges against Hill as he was before: “Respectfully forwarded, with the accompanying charge and specifications respecting Major General A. P. Hill's neglect of duty.
They are not forwarded because I deem a judicial investigation of his conduct necessary, but it appears proper that as I arrested him for neglect of duty, and he insists upon having his case investigated, that I should forward the charge and specifications, so as to enable the commanding general to order a general court-martial for the investigation, should the interest of the public service so require. . . .”
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Pres. Lincoln, worried about McClellan’s inaction, here nearly 2 weeks after the Battle of Antietam, determines to visit McClellan in the field. He will be accompanied by Gen. John McClernand of Illinois, Ward Lamon, and the president of the B&O Railroad, among others.
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: McClellan is unaware how little patience Washington has for him lately, and his dispatches back to the War Department hint at how disappointed he is that he is not being given thanks, or anywhere near enough credit for beating Lee. Gen. Halleck, however, is heapint praise on Little Mac: “The valor and endurance of your army in the several conflicts … are creditable alike to the troops and to the officers who commanded them. . . . A grateful country while mourning the lamented dead will not be unmindful of the honors due the living.”
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes a singularly candid editorial criticizing the Emancipation Proclamation that not only reveals the Southern conviction that the War is about slavery, but also reveals a hefty contempt for the Constitution: “The Yankee Government has at last laid aside all disguise. . . . For the proclamation itself, it does not in the least alter the character of the war. It has been an abolition contest from the beginning, and is no more an abolition contest now than it was at first. The Yankees have stolen and set free all the negroes who were willing to go, . . . This document is merely curious, from the clear demonstration which it affords, of the entire possession which the abolition party has taken of the Federal Government, and the utter prostration of the last remnant of what used with so much unction to be termed by the canting knaves of New England”the bulwark of our liberties” –we mean that ridiculous old Constitution of the United States, which no party ever paid any attention to when they were strong enough to disregard it, and from which no party too weak to justify its position with the sword ever received the slightest protection”
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Federal surgeon Alfred L. Castleman writes in his journal of his reunion with his family: “30th.—Left Hagerstown at 8 this forenoon. Stopped five hours at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and now again am on the way to ——, and I hope to meet with no more delays. Reached home a little after midnight, found my family all well, and I verily believe are glad to see me.”
Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Gideon Welles, U.S. Sec. of the Navy, writes in his journal about Major Key, a staff officer who may have inadvertently revealed an alarming prevailing sentiment in the Union Army officer corps---that the War should not crush the South or slavery: “The President informed us of his interview with [Maj.] Key, one of Halleck’s staff, who said it was not the game of the army to capture the Rebels at Antietam, for that would give the North advantage and end slavery; it was the policy of the army officers to exhaust both sides and then enforce a compromise which would save slavery.”
Wednesday, September 30, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade “Crocker's Brigade,” “It rained all day. I was on fatigue, helping to clean up the review ground. We are to have general inspection in the next few days by General McArthur, our division commander, and General McPherson, corps commander. Our company is returning to its old-time form and numbers.”
Friday, September 30, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “

A. Monday, September 30, 1861: The wet stare-down in Western Virginia at Big Sewell Mountain. The armies in Western Virginia had sat upon opposing spurs of Big Sewell Mountain for nearly a week. General Robert E. Lee’s Army of the Kanawha occupied an incredibly strong defensive position and hoped that General Rosecrans’ 8,500 Union troops would attack. Rosecrans, whose entrenchments were nearly as strong as Lee’s, wished much the same: for his enemy to attack.
Neither budged as the late September rains deluged incessantly. Formerly muddy roads, like the James River & Kanawha Turnpike, which ran across the two mountain spurs, bisecting each army, was turned into, what Confederate General Floyd called, “the worst road in Virginia.”
The Turnpike not only connected the spurs, and thus the armies, it connected both to their supply depots. The Rebel provisions had to be carted by wagons from Lewisburg, twenty-five miles east, and from Staunton, another 100 miles east. Union provisions, however, could be shipped up the Kanawha River from Charleston, sixty miles west. From there, they had to be hauled by wagon to Gauley Bridge and then to Big Sewell. The muddy banks of the river, along with the rain and lack of cover, spoiled many of the rations.
This was no place for an army, let alone two armies, each bent on destroying the other and each completely stymied by the other’s defenses and the weather.
The previous day, General Floyd had ordered the Rebel militia that had been disbanded and recruited into the Confederate Army forward to Lee’s position at Big Sewell. They were ordered to have three-day’s rations and to carry their own tents and blankets as no wagons could be spared. The addition of the militia, as well as General Loring’s troops from the Army of the Northwest, swelled Lee’s force at Big Sewell to 9,000.
B. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Newtonia, Missouri. The first battle pitted Brig. Gen. James Blunt Union forces numbered about 6,500 fought against Col. J.O. Shelby Confederate forces which numbered 4,000. Native Americans fought on both sides. The battle was one of the very few Civil War encounters in which Native Americans fought on both sides. Southern forces had Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw soldiers, while other Cherokee soldiers fought with the North.
The Confederates have been trying to build up their forces in southwestern Missouri for some time. The Union, meanwhile, have been aggressively recruiting native American troops from the pro-Union refugees that the pro-Southern Cherokees have driven out of the Indian Territory. The town of Newtonia had ample crops and grist mills to provide food for an army, and so Col. Douglas Cooper of the Confederate Army sends troops there to secure the town. Union troops are at Fort Scott in Kansas, and in Springfield, Missouri---both within striking distance of Newtonia. Gen. James Blunt at Fort Scott sends out two brigades of 1,500 troops under Col. Frederick Salomon, who has two regiments of the newly-made Indian Home Guard under his command. Most of them are Cherokee and Creek, but there are also a company each of Delaware, Seneca, Kickapoo, Quapaw, and Shawnee---along with two companies each of Osage. The Confederate force under Cooper also has Creek, Cherokee, and also Seminole. The Federals advance cautiously, but they do not know how poorly armed the Rebels are. The Rebels attack, and the Federals retreat, but they meet with reinforcements, and so regroup and counterattack, driving the Rebels back, the Indians in blue fighting the Indians in gray. The Rebels also bring up reinforcements, and drive the Federals back on their heels---and their retreat turns into a rout, with very little order being preserved.
Losses: U.S. 245 C.S. 100
C. Wednesday, September 30, 1863: CSA Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler raided Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’ lines of communication north an east of Chattanooga, TN.
September 30 saw the juncture of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s and Maj. Gen. Forrest’s commands at Cottonport. Wheeler quickly realized that Forrest had not been exaggerating about the state of his men. As he later reported, “The three brigades from General Forrest were mere skeletons, scarcely averaging 500 effective men each. They were badly armed, and had but a small supply of ammunition, and their horses were in horrible condition, having been marched continuously for three days and nights without removing saddles. The men were worn out, and without rations.” Further, Forrest’s subordinates voiced their opinion that not only were their troopers not up to the mission, but also that the men resented having to again serve under Wheeler. “Fighting Joe” listened to the complaints and rejected them. He spent the rest of the day weeding out those soldiers who were patently unfit for duty, and consolidated Forrest’s men into one brigade under General Davidson.
That evening, led by the 4th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, Wheeler’s 4,000 troopers and six artillery pieces splashed across the Tennessee River. Dispersed by a charge of the 3rd Alabama Cavalry, supported by artillery, the Yankee picket and two cannon defending a wooded area on the north bank fled the scene. Thus, the Confederates were across the river with only trifling losses and Wheeler spent most of October 1 making further plans. He and the men set off that evening, but gained only 10 miles before a heavy rainstorm made the roads so muddy and the going so difficult that the Graycoats were ordered into bivouac. Meanwhile, the Federals, hearing of the enemy river passage, beefed up their patrols along the Tennessee. Also, three regiments of infantry along with artillery were sent to Anderson’s Cross Roads in the Sequatchie Valley to protect the trains.
D. Friday, September 30, 1864: Lt Gen U.S. Grant tries the other flank at Petersburg, VA. Battle of Poplar Spring Church. Hoping to extend his line westward south of Petersburg, Maj Gen George Meade pushed towards the Southside Railroad. From 9/29 to 10/2 1864 fighting occurred at various farms throughout the rolling hills with most of the action occurring at Wyatt's, Peebles, and Pegram's farms, Chappell House, Poplar Spring Church and Vaughan Road.
In an attempt to cut the last rail line into Petersburg, Virginia, Union troops attack the Confederate defense around the besieged city on this day in 1864. Although initially successful, the attack ground to a halt when Confederate reinforcements were rushed into place from other sections of the Petersburg line.
The Battle of Poplar Springs Church came after more than three months of trench warfare. Union commander General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee had fought a costly and fast-moving campaign in the spring, but by June they had settled into trenches around Petersburg. The lines extended a full 25 miles north to Richmond. Grant had made sporadic attacks to break the stalemate, and this battle was yet another attempt to drive Lee’s men from the trenches.
The attack coincided with a Federal assault at New Market Heights, near Richmond. The day before, Union forces had captured two strongholds in the Richmond defense system, but were unable to penetrate any further. A Confederate counterattack on September 30 failed to recapture the positions.
Grant hoped that launching a strike around the same time at the other end of the line would keep Lee from sending reinforcements to both locations. On September 30, four divisions from Generals Gouvernor K. Warren’s and John G. Parke’s corps struck a Rebel redoubt (an earthen fortress) at Poplar Springs Church that was easily captured along with a section of trenches. But Confederate General Ambrose P. Hill, in charge of the Petersburg defenses, was able to bring two divisions from other parts of his line to stop the Yankees, and a counterattack prevented the loss of any more territory. The Yankees would try again on October 1, but would be unsuccessful.
The Union lost 2,800 troops, including nearly 1,300 captured during the Confederate counterattack. Lee’s army suffered only 1,300 casualties, but they were much more difficult for him to replace. The Southside Railroad, the object of the attack, was still in Confederate hands, and the armies settled back into their trenches.

Pictures: 1862-09-30 Battle of Newtonia -image Copyrighted to Andy Thomas; 1864-09-39 capture of Fort Archer by 1st Division, V Corps, in Peebles Farm Battle; 1864-09-30 Peebles farm map; 1862-09-30 Picket firing across the Potomac River at Shepherdstown

1. Monday, September 30, 1861: Lincoln continues to wrestle with the problem of Fremont (US). McClellan's lack of action irks Lincoln further and draws criticism from both civilian and military observers. Lincoln is anxious to establish firm control in Kentucky and settle matters with Fremont in Missouri.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-five
2. Monday, September, 30, 1861: On September 30, 1861 Governor of Arkansas Henry M. Rector wrote a dispatch to the new Secretary of War for the Confederacy. Instead of adding a narrative or interpretation to what Rector had to say on this date in 1861, the whole of the letter is presented to our readers for two reasons: first of all we do not want to misinterpret what is written and secondly, it is important for our readers to read this interesting primary source: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Little Rock, September 30, 1861. Honorable SECRETARY OF WAR of the Confederate States: “SIR: In accordance with suggestions contained in a communication addressed to me by your predecessor, bearing date the 5th instant, I issued a proclamation calling for five regiments of men designed for General McCulloch’s command, and so informed the general, a copy of the letter addressed to him being inclosed to your Department.
On the 10th instant a proclamation was also issued by General McCulloch calling for 15,000 men from the State of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas-a printed copy herewith transmitted*-the 5,000 from Louisiana to be rendezvoused at the capital of this government, whether organized or to be assembled here as a mass of individuals I have not been apprised. The authorities of Arkansas were neither consulted as to the property of making this call nor advised in any manner that such was the purpose of the general.
To all demands made upon me by the Confederate Government I have therefore and shall continued to comply with as a constitutional duty, besides the personal gratification it affords of being able to minister something to the great cause in which we are all engaged. To the gallantry and patriotism of General McCulloch none can accord higher admiration than myself; nevertheless, I esteem it to be my duty, as the executive of this State, irrespective of considerations personal to myself, to express my disapproval of the attitude assigned the authorities of this government and that assumed for Confederate officers in the proclamation alluded to. May idea of the rights relatively belonging to the States and to the Confederate Government is that those pertaining to the former were by no means abridged by the withdrawal from the old Confederacy an a union with the new Government, but that all theretofore claimed upon the most liberal construction were conceded, both upon policy and principle.
The history of the United States, I believe, furnishes no precedent for the raising of men by proclamation emanating from generals commanding nor from the President. If such had been law or precedent, the intervention of State authority would doubtless have been dispensed with by Mr. Lincoln in his demand for troops from Arkansas. Such, fortunately, was not the practice or the law; and with all deference I submit that no example by authority ought to mar the next sheet of Confederate history.
I am aware that, by an act of the Provisional Congress, approved 28th February last, the President is authorized to receive into the service of the Government such forces then in the service of the States as might be tendered, “or who may volunteer by consent of their State,” meaning its authorities; but I am unadvised if legislation has trenched so far upon State prerogative as to authorize the calling of troops by any but State authority, and shall, if such is the law, reluctantly yield my assent to so serious an innovation upon State rights.
But, apart from policy and law, the practice is attended with discordant effort, confusion, contrariety of opinion, unsatisfactory results, and great waste and improvidence in expending the resources of the country. For instance, if the men called for by General McCulloch are raised by him, those assembled by my proclamation, after great expense to the State and sacrifice to the citizen, will be useless, and have to be disbanded. Again, if General McCulloch may issue proclamation, so may one or a dozen other officers do likewise, destroying all harmony of action, and putting aside State authority entirely. Again, an economy of men henceforth will be as important as that of money. Illy-advised calls, appealing strenuously to the people of particular sections of this State which have sent but few men to the field; others, by applying constant stimulants, have already turned out an overdue proportion. Of these facts Confederate generals can know nothing, whilst the right and knowledge for discrimination rest exclusively with the authorities of the States, and cannot be so well lodged anywhere else.
On a former occasion, July —, General McCulloch issued a proclamation calling for the entire military force of the State, evidently with the most laudable purposes, which met with approval from the necessity of the case, not deeming it probable that an isolated act would ripen into settled practice. I though it unnecessary to call attention to it at Richmond, unless supervenient facts determined that that call was assumed to have been made by an exercise of rightful authority, which now seems to be apparent. There are other persons and officers of the confederate Government of lesser rank then General McCulloch who, claiming to act by direction of your Government, are issuing addresses and proclamations, calling for troops from Arkansas, all which perplex and distract the minds and loyal purposes of the people, and are highly detrimental to the public service and offensive to the rights and dignity of this Government. In view of al which, I beg leave most sincerely and respectfully to request that henceforward all demands which it may be though proper to make upon this State for troops for Confederate service may be addressed to the proper authorities thereof, land that the military officers placed upon our frontiers be advised of the propriety in future of addressing themselves to such authorities in the procurement of troops needed for the Confederate Army.
Very respectfully, H. M. RECTOR, Governor of Arkansas.”
http://arkansastoothpick.com/2016/09/today-arkansas-civil-war-september-30/
3. Monday, September 30, 1861: Hardeman County plantation owner/ planter, merchant, and civic leader, John Houston Bills (The Pillars) wrote in his dairy: “Our Civil war is assuming immense proportions. I think not less than 800,000 men in the field; say 425,000 on the Federal Side & 375,000 on the side of the South. Our governor Harris calls for 30,000 more. I can see nothing but ruin to both sides from the Wicked Course being pursued.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-five
4. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: In Tennessee, the Confederate Army are patrolling reconnaissance runs from Rienzi, Miss., to the Hatchie River. In southwestern Missouri, at Newtonia and Clark's Mill were being fought and won by the South. Newtonia was one of the few battles during the Civil War in which Native Americans played a significant role on both sides with estimated casualties: 345 total (US 245; CS 100).https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
5. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Now that the Maryland campaign is over, the squabble between Stonewall Jackson and A.P. Hill is revived. Jackson has not pressed charges, but Hill still rankles over the insult, and demands that a court of inquiry in order to clear his name. He writes to General Lee: “I respectfully say to the general that I deny the truth of every allegation made by Major-General Jackson, and am prepared to prove my denial by any number of honorable men, including members of General Jackson's own staff. If General Jackson had accorded me the courtesy of asking an explanation of each instance of neglect of duty as it occurred, I think that even he would have been satisfied, and the necessity avoided of keeping a black-list against me. It is hardly necessary to remark that these charges made by General Jackson are of a serious character, involving my reputation and standing as an. . . . I again respectfully, reiterate my request for a court of inquiry, to involve the matter of these additional allegations, and ask that a speedy answer be given me.”
Jackson, having read Hill’s letter, adds his own to it, apparently not as keen on preferring charges against Hill as he was before: “Respectfully forwarded, with the accompanying charge and specifications respecting Major General A. P. Hill's neglect of duty.
They are not forwarded because I deem a judicial investigation of his conduct necessary, but it appears proper that as I arrested him for neglect of duty, and he insists upon having his case investigated, that I should forward the charge and specifications, so as to enable the commanding general to order a general court-martial for the investigation, should the interest of the public service so require. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
6. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Pres. Lincoln, worried about McClellan’s inaction, here nearly 2 weeks after the Battle of Antietam, determines to visit McClellan in the field. He will be accompanied by Gen. John McClernand of Illinois, Ward Lamon, and the president of the B&O Railroad, among others.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
7. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: McClellan is unaware how little patience Washington has for him lately, and his dispatches back to the War Department hint at how disappointed he is that he is not being given thanks, or anywhere near enough credit for beating Lee. Gen. Halleck, however, is heapint praise on Little Mac: “The valor and endurance of your army in the several conflicts … are creditable alike to the troops and to the officers who commanded them. . . . A grateful country while mourning the lamented dead will not be unmindful of the honors due the living.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
8. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes a singularly candid editorial criticizing the Emancipation Proclamation that not only reveals the Southern conviction that the War is about slavery, but also reveals a hefty contempt for the Constitution: “The Yankee Government has at last laid aside all disguise. . . . For the proclamation itself, it does not in the least alter the character of the war. It has been an abolition contest from the beginning, and is no more an abolition contest now than it was at first. The Yankees have stolen and set free all the negroes who were willing to go, . . . This document is merely curious, from the clear demonstration which it affords, of the entire possession which the abolition party has taken of the Federal Government, and the utter prostration of the last remnant of what used with so much unction to be termed by the canting knaves of New England”the bulwark of our liberties” –we mean that ridiculous old Constitution of the United States, which no party ever paid any attention to when they were strong enough to disregard it, and from which no party too weak to justify its position with the sword ever received the slightest protection”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
9. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Federal surgeon Alfred L. Castleman writes in his journal of his reunion with his family: “30th.—Left Hagerstown at 8 this forenoon. Stopped five hours at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and now again am on the way to ——, and I hope to meet with no more delays. Reached home a little after midnight, found my family all well, and I verily believe are glad to see me.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
10. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Gideon Welles, U.S. Sec. of the Navy, writes in his journal about Major Key, a staff officer who may have inadvertently revealed an alarming prevailing sentiment in the Union Army officer corps---that the War should not crush the South or slavery: “The President informed us of his interview with [Maj.] Key, one of Halleck’s staff, who said it was not the game of the army to capture the Rebels at Antietam, for that would give the North advantage and end slavery; it was the policy of the army officers to exhaust both sides and then enforce a compromise which would save slavery.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
11. Tuesday, September 30, 1862: Maj Gen George B. McClellan refuses to move – Lincoln to pay a visit. George McClellan never believed that he was being an unreasonable ass. All he really wanted was to be left alone. A little bit of credit for winning the Battle of Antietam and driving the nearly overwhelming hordes of Rebels from northern soil wouldn’t hurt, either. But from Washington, he was receiving neither.
Since the bloody day of the battle, the Confederates had taken up camp around and just north of Winchester, while the Union army stayed more or less near Sharpsburg. Writing to his wife on the 29th, McClellan rejoiced that the Rebels had retired. “I will be able to arrange my troops more with a view to comfort,” he penned, before hoping for rains that would swell the Potomac, keeping General Lee and his men on one side while General McClellan took a leave of absence.
In the same letter, he complained bitterly that Washington had not thanked him. He also was vexed that he had to write a summary report of the battle. “I would really prefer fighting three battles to writing the report of one,” said the General.
At any rate, McClellan wrote his report and submitted it. Washington responded. First, General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, about whom McClellan had almost nothing nice to say, poured praise upon the Army of the Potomac. “The valor and endurance of your army in the several conflicts … are creditable alike to the troops and to the officers who commanded them,” wrote Halleck. “A grateful country while mourning the lamented dead will not be unmindful of the honors due the living.” Even this would not change McClellan’s opinion. A day after receiving the telegram, he again wrote his wife: “I do think that man Halleck is the most stupid idiot I ever heard of.”
If Halleck’s response was not personal enough for McClellan, Washington had another waiting in the wings. McClellan had repeatedly told Washington that moving the Army of the Potomac was impossible. Besides, reported the General, the Confederates outnumbered him and were just waiting for them to attack. Neither was, of course, true.
While some radicals believed McClellan to be an out and out traitor, Lincoln thought McClellan simply overly cautious. When the September 30th return came across the Presidential desk, Lincoln learned that McClellan had over 100,000 men (including the troops in Washington) with which to follow General Lee. The inaction for seemingly no reason at all weighed heavy on Lincoln’s mind.
Finally, he resolved to drop by for a visit. Perhaps this one, unlike the last one on the Virginia Peninsula, would spur the General into fighting the Rebels rather than the politicians in Washington. Lincoln, accompanied by several officers, Ward Hill Lamon, and the president of the B&O Railroad, would leave the next morning to press upon McClellan the necessity of moving as soon as possible. [1]
[1]Sources: The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan edited by Stephen Sears; Lincoln and McClellan by John C. Waugh; Lincoln’s Darkest Year by William Marvel; Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by Ward Hill Lamon; Abraham Lincoln: A History by John Hay and John Nicolay; George B. McClellan by Stephen W. Sears.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/mcclellan-refuses-to-move-lincoln-to-pay-a-visit/
12. Wednesday, September, 30, 1863: The month of September proved to be very costly to both North and South, with a total of 22,505 casualties.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
13. Wednesday, September 30, 1863: Brig. Gen. George Crook reports a massive incursion of Rebel cavalry at several points on the Tennessee River, both below and above his position, near Smith’s Cross Roads. Crook’s men fight the dismounted Southern troopers for about an hour, and then withdraws farther west.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1863
14. Wednesday, September 30, 1863: Chickamauga Campaign: Trouble between commanders and their generals are not limited to the hapless Army of the Cumberland, but also in their opponents, the C.S. Army of Tennessee. Gen. Bragg, dissatisfied with the way some of his subordinates conducted the Battle of Chickamauga, demands explanations from Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk and Maj. Gen. Thomas Hindman---but the government in Richmond reminds him that he cannot remove general officers from command, but only arrest them. Pres. Davis hopes that will resolve the quarreling---but is shocked then Gen. Bragg does, in fact, the unthinkable: he prefers charges against both generals. Ironically enough, Gen. James Longstreet (on loan from the Army of Northern Virginia) heads up a small group (himself, D.H. Hill, Simon B. Buckner, Leonidas Polk) of general officers who petition to Richmond for Bragg to be relieved and Lee sent west to deal with the Union forces there. Trouble with dissatisfied officers and his inability to confide in them will plague Bragg through the entire coming campaign.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1863
15. Friday, September 30, 1864: September comes and goes and with it so did another 14,000 casualties.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
16. Friday, September 30, 1864: Battle of Fort Harrison, Virginia. 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 than 20 minutes. Robert E. Lee directed a counter-attack the following day that failed to regain the position
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
17. Friday, September 30, 1864: First Lieutenant Thomas B. Wright (US) during a short battle in Waynesville, Missouri claims to have killed “Bloody Bill” Anderson, but history will prove him wrong.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
18. Friday, September 30, 1864: Acting Master John C. Braine (CSN) actions caused the Richmond government (CSA) concern and embarrassment, since his expedition was organized and carried out from the neutral port of Havana. Instead of boarding the Steamer Roanoke as a passenger in New York, however, he chose to capture her on the Havana end of the voyage. With a small group of Confederates, he was able to overwhelm the ship’s officers and take over the ship, steering her for Bermuda. He determines he could not use the ship and burns it, gets caught, but he is later released and never is heard from again.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181

A Monday, September 30, 1861: The Wet Stare-Down In Western Virginia. The armies in Western Virginia had sat upon opposing spurs of Big Sewell Mountain for nearly a week. General Robert E. Lee’s Army of the Kanawha occupied an incredibly strong defensive position and hoped that General Rosecrans’ 8,500 Union troops would attack. Rosecrans, whose entrenchments were nearly as strong as Lee’s, wished much the same: for his enemy to attack.
Neither budged as the late September rains deluged incessantly. Formerly muddy roads, like the James River & Kanawha Turnpike, which ran across the two mountain spurs, bisecting each army, was turned into, what Confederate General Floyd called, “the worst road in Virginia.”
The Turnpike not only connected the spurs, and thus the armies, it connected both to their supply depots. The Rebel provisions had to be carted by wagons from Lewisburg, twenty-five miles east, and from Staunton, another 100 miles east. Union provisions, however, could be shipped up the Kanawha River from Charleston, sixty miles west. From there, they had to be hauled by wagon to Gauley Bridge and then to Big Sewell. The muddy banks of the river, along with the rain and lack of cover, spoiled many of the rations.
This was no place for an army, let alone two armies, each bent on destroying the other and each completely stymied by the other’s defenses and the weather. [1]
[1] Rebels at the Gate by Lesser. Also, mostly for the information on the Union condition, Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Volume 1 by Jacob Dolson Cox.
The previous day, General Floyd had ordered the Rebel militia that had been disbanded and recruited into the Confederate Army forward to Lee’s position at Big Sewell. They were ordered to have three-day’s rations and to carry their own tents and blankets as no wagons could be spared. The addition of the militia, as well as General Loring’s troops from the Army of the Northwest, swelled Lee’s force at Big Sewell to 9,000.
Still, Lee wished for Rosecrans to attack him, but sincerely doubted that he would. “I begin to fear the enemy will not attack us,” wrote Lee to Floyd. “We shall therefore have to attack him.” Lee reasoned that if a week’s worth of provisions could somehow be procured, they could move around Rosecrans’ flank and attack his rear. [2]
[2] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 51 (Part 2), p325-326.
“We had now reached the fall of the year, and the nights were already very cold,” recalled Lee’s aide, Walter Taylor. “As before stated, our camp equipage was exceedingly limited, as were our supplies of all kinds. One very cold night, as we drew close to our camp fire, General Lee suggested that it was advisable to make one bed, put our blankets together in order to have sufficient covering to make us comfortable, and so it happened that it was vouchsafed to me to occupy very close relations with my old commander, and to be able to testify to his self-denial and his simplicity of life in those days of trial for all.” [3]
[3] General Lee: His Campaigns in Virginia, 1861-1865 by Walter Herron Taylor, Press of Braunworth & co., 1906. Also, “vouchsafed” is a great word, no?”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-wet-stare-down-in-western-virginia-arkansas-has-a-point/
B Tuesday, September 30, 1862: First Battle of Newtonia, Missouri – The Confederates have been trying to build up their forces in southwestern Missouri for some time. The Union, meanwhile, have been aggressively recruiting native American troops from the pro-Union refugees that the pro-Southern Cherokees have driven out of the Indian Territory. The town of Newtonia had ample crops and grist mills to provide food for an army, and so Col. Douglas Cooper of the Confederate Army sends troops there to secure the town. Union troops are at Fort Scott in Kansas, and in Springfield, Missouri---both within striking distance of Newtonia. Gen. James Blunt at Fort Scott sends out two brigades of 1,500 troops under Col. Frederick Salomon, who has two regiments of the newly-made Indian Home Guard under his command. Most of them are Cherokee and Creek, but there are also a company each of Delaware, Seneca, Kickapoo, Quapaw, and Shawnee---along with two companies each of Osage. The Confederate force under Cooper also has Creek, Cherokee, and also Seminole. The Federals advance cautiously, but they do not know how poorly armed the Rebels are. The Rebels attack, and the Federals retreat, but they meet with reinforcements, and so regroup and counterattack, driving the Rebels back, the Indians in blue fighting the Indians in gray. The Rebels also bring up reinforcements, and drive the Federals back on their heels---and their retreat turns into a rout, with very little order being preserved. Confederate Victory.
Losses: U.S. 245 C.S. 100
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+30%2C+1862
B+ Tuesday, September 30, 1862: First Battle of Newtonia, Missouri. Two major Civil War battles were fought at Newtonia: one on September 30, 1862, and the other on October 28, 1864. The first battle pitted Brig. Gen. James Blunt against Col. J.O. Shelby. Confederate forces numbered 4,000; Union forces numbered about 6,500. The 1862 battle was one of the very few Civil War encounters in which Native Americans fought on both sides. Southern forces had Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw soldiers, while other Cherokee soldiers fought with the North. The 1864 battle was a delaying action by Shelby to protect Gen. Sterling Price's retreat to Arkansas. It was the last battle of the Civil War fought in Missouri. The site includes 20 acres of the battlefield and the Ritchey Mansion, which served as headquarters for both Union and Confederate troops at different points.
http://www.civilwar.org/civil-war-discovery-trail/sites/newtonia-battlefield.html
C. Wednesday, September 30, 1863: CSA Gen. Joseph Wheeler raided Federal positions north and east of Chattanooga, Tennessee until October 17, 1863.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186309
C+ Wednesday, September, 30, 1863: After being ordered to turn his command over to Confederate Major General Joseph Wheeler (CSA), Nathan Bedford Forrest (CSA) is transferred to the West Tennessee / Mississippi area to raise another command. Wheeler raids Rosecrans’ lines of communication.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
C++ Wednesday, September, 30, 1863: Although Forrest would not be going on the Sequatchie Valley excursion, his now leaderless cavalry under Brig. Gen. H.B. Davison and Colonels John S. Scott and George B. Hodge would be taking part. Like Wheeler’s troopers, Forrest’s three former brigades had performed rigorous service during the Chickamauga Campaign and they and their mounts were in no condition to make the proposed long march. But again ignoring the facts about the state of his cavalry, Bragg ordered Forrest’s former troops to rendezvous with Wheeler’s men on the south side of the Tennessee River at Cottonport, 35 miles northeast of Chattanooga.
Wheeler Spent the Day Weeding Out Soldiers Deemed Unfit for Duty
September 30 saw the juncture of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s and Maj. Gen. Forrest’s commands at Cottonport. Wheeler quickly realized that Forrest had not been exaggerating about the state of his men. As he later reported, “The three brigades from General Forrest were mere skeletons, scarcely averaging 500 effective men each. They were badly armed, and had but a small supply of ammunition, and their horses were in horrible condition, having been marched continuously for three days and nights without removing saddles. The men were worn out, and without rations.” Further, Forrest’s subordinates voiced their opinion that not only were their troopers not up to the mission, but also that the men resented having to again serve under Wheeler. “Fighting Joe” listened to the complaints and rejected them. He spent the rest of the day weeding out those soldiers who were patently unfit for duty, and consolidated Forrest’s men into one brigade under General Davidson.
That evening, led by the 4th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, Wheeler’s 4,000 troopers and six artillery pieces splashed across the Tennessee River. Dispersed by a charge of the 3rd Alabama Cavalry, supported by artillery, the Yankee picket and two cannon defending a wooded area on the north bank fled the scene. Thus, the Confederates were across the river with only trifling losses and Wheeler spent most of October 1 making further plans. He and the men set off that evening, but gained only 10 miles before a heavy rainstorm made the roads so muddy and the going so difficult that the Graycoats were ordered into bivouac. Meanwhile, the Federals, hearing of the enemy river passage, beefed up their patrols along the Tennessee. Also, three regiments of infantry along with artillery were sent to Anderson’s Cross Roads in the Sequatchie Valley to protect the trains.
http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/civil-war/joseph-fighting-joe-wheelers-1863-sequatchie-valley-raid/
D Friday, September 30, 1864: Battle of Poplar Springs Church, Virginia. G. K. Warren's [US] 5th Corps and John Parke's [US] 9th Corps are attacked by A. P. Hill [CS] at Squirrel Level Road southwest of Petersburg. Warren and Parke did extend the siege lines.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
D+ Friday, September 30, 1864: Battle of Peebles' Farm, Virginia. [9/29 to 10/2 1864]. Hoping to extend his line westward south of Petersburg, George Meade pushed towards the Southside Railroad. Fighting occurred at various farms throughout the rolling hills with most of the action occurring at Wyatt's, Peebles, and Pegram's farms, Chappell House, Poplar Spring Church and Vaughan Road
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
D++ Friday, September 30, 1864: Battle of Poplar Springs Church, Virginia. In an attempt to cut the last rail line into Petersburg, Virginia, Union troops attack the Confederate defense around the besieged city on this day in 1864. Although initially successful, the attack ground to a halt when Confederate reinforcements were rushed into place from other sections of the Petersburg line.
The Battle of Poplar Springs Church came after more than three months of trench warfare. Union commander General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee had fought a costly and fast-moving campaign in the spring, but by June they had settled into trenches around Petersburg. The lines extended a full 25 miles north to Richmond. Grant had made sporadic attacks to break the stalemate, and this battle was yet another attempt to drive Lee’s men from the trenches.
The attack coincided with a Federal assault at New Market Heights, near Richmond. The day before, Union forces had captured two strongholds in the Richmond defense system, but were unable to penetrate any further. A Confederate counterattack on September 30 failed to recapture the positions.
Grant hoped that launching a strike around the same time at the other end of the line would keep Lee from sending reinforcements to both locations. On September 30, four divisions from Generals Gouvernor K. Warren’s and John G. Parke’s corps struck a Rebel redoubt (an earthen fortress) at Poplar Springs Church that was easily captured along with a section of trenches. But Confederate General Ambrose P. Hill, in charge of the Petersburg defenses, was able to bring two divisions from other parts of his line to stop the Yankees, and a counterattack prevented the loss of any more territory. The Yankees would try again on October 1, but would be unsuccessful.
The Union lost 2,800 troops, including nearly 1,300 captured during the Confederate counterattack. Lee’s army suffered only 1,300 casualties, but they were much more difficult for him to replace. The Southside Railroad, the object of the attack, was still in Confederate hands, and the armies settled back into their trenches.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-poplar-springs-church-peebles-farm
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LTC Stephen F. I am going to choose 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Newtonia, Missouri. The battle pitted Brig. Gen. James Blunt Union forces numbered about 6,500 fought against Col. J.O. Shelby Confederate forces which numbered 4,000. Southern forces had Choctaw, Cherokee, and

Good morning and thanks for the fantastic history post.

With a name like Newtonia, you knew there had to be a battle there.

It's little known that there were Indians fighting for either side during the Civil War. Last time I said it in a conversation, I was ridiculed for even saying such a thing happened.

Civil War history that's well worth reading.

Haven't seen this format of question in almost a year.....I c.hose all as well

I enjoyed the read in Civil War history on September 30th. I chose all events as important today LTC Stephen F.