In 1862. during the prolonged artillery duel, at the Battle of Cedar Mountain “both Stonewall Jackson and Brig. Gen. Charles Winder participated in firing Confederate artillery pieces. Although it was called “the prettiest artillery duel ever witnessed during the war,” it had significant consequences when Charles Winder was struck by shell fragments around 5pm and died a few hours later. With few subordinates aware of Jackson’s battle plan, Winder’s loss produced a dangerous leadership vacuum just as a powerful Federal attack was beginning to unfold.”
In 1864, CSA Maj Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest established his headquarters at Pontotoc, his wounded foot still in a sling. Colonel Alexander Chalmers is forced to fall back from the Tallahatchie to Abbeville and then to Oxford, near which was where US forces stop for the night. General A. J. Smith crossed the river with a division of US troops during the night of the August 9-10. Per The Capture of Memphis. Southern Historical Society: “The Eighteenth Mississippi Cavalry, not over 300 strong, commanded by that brilliant young Colonel Alexander H. Chalmers, was holding the line of the Tallahatchie in front of Abbeville. His position was a very unfavorable one. The south bank of the river was much lower than the north bank, and furthermore the timber had been cut from the south bank for a distance of half a mile, while the north bank was thickly wooded to the river. The enemy forced the pickets from the river bank with his big guns, but Colonel Chalmers formed a line on a ride in the edge of the woods, about half a mile back, and soon got together rails and timbers which he used as breast-works. The enemy threw several regiments across the river and moved against the Mississippians, but were driven back. Colonel Chalmers held his position until late in the evening of August 9, and then retired to Abbeville, where he was re-enforced by General Chalmers with McCulloch’s brigade.”
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. In 1863“President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Major General Ulysses S. Grant about grand strategy and Lincoln's desire that large numbers of Black troops be raised along the Mississippi River.” In 1864, George Washington Whitman, brother of poet Walt Whitman, wrote home to their mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman.
Saturday, August 9, 1862: George Michael Neese, a Confederate artilleryman in Chew’s Battery (Va.), serving with Stonewall Jackson’s corps, writes his impressions of the Battle of Cedar Moutain, and his scorn of Gen. Pope, with good humor—and then shares some horrifying reflections in on the bloodshed: “About three o’clock this afternoon we sighted the enemy nine miles from Culpeper Court House. Jackson’s batteries were ordered to the immediate front, took position and opened fire on the enemy right away. I think this initiatory fire was for the sole purpose of inducing this great and pompous man, Pope (who is just from the West, and boasts that he has never seen anything of the Rebels but their backs), to disclose his intentions and feel his front. The enemy was prompt in replying to Jackson’s batteries, and the cannonading soon after became general along the front, and opened the battle of Cedar Mountain.
From the way the trains were running last night and bringing troops from the direction of Richmond, and from the bustle and stir in the infantry camps, I thought that Jackson was fixing to butcher, but I had no idea that the eventful sword measuring that of the mighty Pope would be drawn so soon. I have no idea what kind of timber is in the make-up of this military giant from the West who has been feeding on eagle meat, but unless he is awfully superior to the Yankee generals that operated in the Shenandoah Valley a few months ago and butted up against old Stonewall, he will find that by the time he bumps against the sticking qualities of Jackson’s bayonets, and receives a few practical object lessons in flanking from the master of that art, he will be ready to soar to Washington and whisper to the Secretary of War that he (Pope) believes and is under the serious impression that he has had a peep at something of the Rebels on the fields of Virginia that did not exactly look altogether like their backs. . . .
The Federal dead lay all around our bivouac, and I heard the pitiful groans of the wounded and the low weakly murmurs of the dying. When I lay down on blood-stained sod to snatch a few hours of sleep it was then two hours after midnight, and the desultory artillery fire that was kept up in the fore part of the night had fully died away and the dogs of war were silent once more.
The sudden and abrupt vicissitudes of sanguinary war rush a man rough-shod from one end of the scale of human experience to the other. Last night I was lulled to sleep, as it were, by the enlivening and inspiring strains of a band playing "Home, Sweet Home"; to-day I heard the hideous roar of battle, and to-night I am kept awake by the constant and pitiful murmur of the wounded and groans of the dying without any "Sweet Home " in it.
If this cruel war lasts seventy-five years, and the, Yanks don’t kill me before it ends, I hope that I will never be compelled to bivouac on another fresh battlefield.”
Saturday, August 9, 1862: Lieutenant William H. H. (Harry) Lewis, of the 16th Mississippi Infantry in Gen. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, writes home to his mother, with an articulate and heartfelt—although cliched—expression of Southern patriotism: “Camp of 16th Regiment Miss. Vol. Aug. 9th 1862. Dear Mother; It has been over two weeks since I received a letter from you and a longer period since I wrote last. Your last was the longest I ever had the pleasure of reading being full four pages of fools [?]; and it was as interesting as lengthy. I have no valid excuse for not writing soon; but plead the time worn and effete palliation of want of news and idle and lazy procrastination.
My duties are such as occupy the golden parts of those hot, sultry, summer days – that is from day light to 11 o’clock a.m. and again from 4 o’clock to sundown in the evening. The remainder of the day is pretty much my own; though I am frequently called upon to moove [sic] about and make out reports while the fierce sun is beaming down in all its strength. I occupy the idle time at my disposal in reading and chatting and now another napping, which you know is a very dull and listless way of killing time. In fact, the life of a soldier is in my estimation one of the meanest and laziest imaginable. And were not if for the cause we are battling for I would not follow it a single hour longer. As a profession and a voluntary mode of livelyhood I would deride the idea and not allow it to engage my thoughts a moment.
But as it is, I joyfully embrace it as a means of repelling a dastardly, plundering, oppressive and cowardly foe from our homes and borders. I grasp it as the only means of preserving all that is near and dear to me – home, family, friends and country. And cheerfully I determine never to lay down my rifle as long as a Yankee remains on Southern soil – as long as the cry of subjugation and extermination is raised by the "best Government the world even saw" against a people of the same language and manners whose only offence is a desire of seperation. Every day that passes strengthens the resolution of every Southern patriot.
He sees the invader overrunning a portion of his country and burning the houses of the most conspicuous Southern men and confiscating their property, compelling the old men and families to flee for their lives to the Southern lines. He realises that wherever the track of invader is, there every thing Southern in sentiment is is a perfect desolate waste. He sees the storm coming and sallies forth to disperse it or turn its course; and resolved is he either to accomplish this or perish in the noble attempt.
And this spirit will ultimately prevail – yes! The North may railse her volunteers and draft – her conscripts by the hundred thousand and lavish her wealth by the hundred million, but to no avail. She may by her inexhaustible recourses carry on the war for years and overrun the greater portion of Southern territory, still right will prevail, and in the end the Southern people – those that survive – will raise the triumphant shout of Freedom! Freedom!! as the monstrous old decaying edifice of Union undermined by debts and her own blind folly collapses and forever settles into oblivion. But enough of this I tire you with my ranting. . . .
We are encamped in what was once an old corn field in a very warm situation but tolerably healthy. We have an abundance of flies and tents and by placing sheds built of bushes in front and rear of our domiciles manage to thwart the rays of the sun right effectually. There is no complaint about rations now as we generally get plenty of flour and beef and now and then sugar and rice. There is an inexhaustible supply of huckleberries near here covering the country for miles and as apples are plentiful we live on huckleberry pie occasionally relieved by the more acid apple. Mack prides himself on his pastry and I expect will vie with Aunt Alsy[?] when he returns home. Besides we have the Richmond papers daily which contributes to relieve monotony.
Last night the moon was full and as bright, soft and mellow as I ever beheld, even, in our own Woodville. It was a beautiful night. . . . Day before yesterday about 2 o’clock our whole division was ordered under arms in 20 minutes. The sun was distressingly hot and not a breath of air stiring. We formed and then started down the road to Malvern Hill at double quick and proceeded 5 miles to a point where our men were throwing up fortifications, which was 3 miles blow Drewry’s Bluff and the same distance from Malvern Hill. Here we halted and learned the Hill was in possession of the enemy having driven our pickets off of it; and we waited expecting to be ordered forward to meet the foe, but the order came not. We remained there two days and returned to camp after we learned the enemy had retired within their works. They thought we had no force here and thought to catch us napping but could not come it. We have sent reinforcements to Stonewall Jackson from this point and large numbers of troops coming from the more southern states have recently joined here. Swelling his force to 50,000 men with which army we confidently expect him to defeat Pope who is oppressing and trammelling the loyal people of Virginia in as base and unsoldierly a manner as Brute Butler tyranizes over the good people of New Orleans. The war is fast verging into a regular war of extermination, the repeated hanging and shooting of our citizens for trivial offences and for protecting their homes has at length called forth a proclamation of Pres. Davis who in a manly tone says that if the murder of our citizens isn’t stopped he will retalliate upon their commissioned officers. Now it only remains for the Yankees to cease their outrages or enter on a war of no quarter – or a war to the knife. It is awful to contemplate such a state of things. Still we are ready for the alternative. Dear Mother, I am getting to hate the Yankees in earnest. Their treatment of prisoners is scandalous and insufferable. Although we have taken prisoners time and again I have never seen one mistreated. On the contrary I have seen our foot sore, starving boys living on 4 crackers and a slice of bacon a day through their only cracker to a crowd of begging Yankee prisoners who greedily played the game of grab. And I have noticed at other times our men ministering to wounded Yankees and voluntaryly carrying cool water, and seldom ever saying anything annoying to them as they passed by in squads to the rear. Yet these Yankees insult our boys when prisoners and if they attempt to answer we resent it. . . .
McClellan is in his same old position at Turkey bend which he took and fortified after the battles were over. No telling what he is about, but no doubt reorganizing and strengthening his army and probably awaiting the 300,000 recruits from Yankee Land. If he ever attempts to take Richmond again it is thought he will advance on the south side of the James, where we are throwing up fortifications for defence, if necessary. I hardly think he will make the attempt before next spring. Though, he may make advances before that time. Recruiting seems to be at a stand still in most of the Northern States. Your son Harry Lewis”

Sunday, August 9: 1863: John Beauchamp Jones, of the War Department in Richmond, writes in his journal of his garden---one attempt at dealing with the worsening food shortage in the Confederate capital: “We have fine hot August weather now, and I hope my tomatoes will mature, and thus save me two dollars per day. My potatoes have, so far, failed; but as they are still green, perhaps they may produce a crop later in the season. The lima beans, trailed on the fence, promise an abundant crop; and the cabbages and peppers look well. Every inch of the ground is in cultivation—even the ash-heap, covered all over with tomato-vines.”
Sunday, August 9: 1863: Annie M. Schon writes to her sister Bettie Kimberley in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and discusses the horrific inflation in the South, and of its effect on the Kimberley family, since Mr. Kimberley is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina: “You speak of the prices in Chapel Hill, they are just the same here, and it is frightful to think how much we pay for so little but when we think of the value of our currency we ought not to be surprised at the cost of things for in reality one dollar now is not work more than ten cents used to be. But I think it is shameful Mr. Kimberly’s salary has not been raised. I don’t know how the professors can be expected to live on the same amount they received formerly when prices have increased so much. . . . we will yet see the day when we will look back even upon the present prices and consider them very low, and I have now determined to buy as soon as possible every thing I will need for the next year, and I would buy for 2 years to come but Mr. Schon thinks it is best not to do so, as he thinks in a year we will have brighter times, but I have given up the hope & since our late misfortunes, think the war may continue for years.”
Sunday, August 9: 1863: President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Major General Ulysses S. Grant about grand strategy and Lincoln's desire that large numbers of Black troops be raised along the Mississippi River.
Executive Mansion, “My dear General Grant: Washington, August 9, 1863. I see by a despatch of yours that you incline quite strongly towards an expedition against Mobile. This would appear tempting to me also, were it not that in view of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas as soon as possible. I am not making an order, however. That I leave, for the present at least, to the General-in-Chief.
A word upon another subject. Gen. Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us. We were not fully ripe for it until the river was opened. Now, I think at least a hundred thousand can, and ought to be rapidly organized along it's shores, relieving all the white troops to serve elsewhere.
Mr. Dana understands you as believing that the emancipation proclamation has helped some in your military operations. I am very glad if this is so. Did you receive a short letter from me, dated the 13th of July?
Yours very truly A. LINCOLN.”
Tuesday, August 9, 1864: George Washington Whitman, brother of poet Walt Whitman, wrote home to their mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. “In front of Petersburg Va. 10 O clock Tuesday night Aug 9th. Dear Mother. I have just come in from the front, where we have been on picket for the last 48 hours, and as everything is quiet, and I dont care to turn in just yet, I will do as I promised the last time I wrote, (I see by Walts letter of Aug. 4th that you got mine all right,) and tell you something about our fight here on the 30th of last Month.
Well Mother, to begin at the begining, you must know that for 4 or 5 weeks before the great blow up came off, one of the Regts, of our Brigade (the 48th Penn.) had been at work digging a mine, starting about 100 feet in rear of the line that our Regt. occupies when on picket, and running under a rebel fort, just to the left and front of us, and about 175 yeards from where the mine started. This was quite a great undertaking and as I understand, pronounced by the regular Engineers of the Potomac Army as not at all likely to suceed, but the Regt. that had the work in charge are nearly all Coal Miners from Penn. and their Lieut. Col. (Pleasants) was a mining Engineer at home, so they just kept on at their work, and on the 29th of last month, the thing was all charged and ready to touch off. On the Evening of the 29th (our Regt being picket at the time) we were notified to be ready to leave the rifle pitts at moments notice, and somewhere about 4 Oclock on the morning of the 30th we were ordered to leave a small force in the pitts to keep up the usual amount of fireing (so that the enemy wouldent suspect anything) and to fall back, about a quarter of a mile with the rest of the Regt. and wait for orders. After going back as we were ordered, we waited for an hour, and had made up our minds that the thing was a failure (as the fuse had been lighted before we left the pitts and it was expected to take about 25 minutes to burn to the magazines) when we felt the earth tremble under our feet, and immidately a vast column of earth was thrown up in the air very much resembling (in shape) a hugh water spout, and as we hear since burying in its fall several guns and quite a number of Rebs. The Artillerynen all along our line were standing by their guns ready to fire, and the very second the explosion took place the fire from nearly a hundred peices of Artillery opened along our line, and take it all togather I think it was the most exciting sight I ever saw.
From what I have since learned, I think the programe was something like this. I think it was intended the instant the Fort was blown up, for the First Division of our Corps (who were formed close up to the front) to charge through the First line of the enemy, and push on to the second, which it was expected during the panic and surprise of the enemy they could easily take and hold. Our Division the 2d was then to charge on the right, and the Third on the left, while the Fourth Division (The Darkies) were to be thrown forward, passing through the First Division, and advancing on to Petersburg, the Fourth Division to be followed and suported by parts of the 5th 10th & 18th corps, who were massed just inside our lines. The plan I think was a good one and as yet, I cant see why, with proper management it couldent have been carried out, but it seems the First Division that should have been moved forward on the instant, did not (for some reason or another) advance for some time after the explosion, and then only as far as the enemys 1st line. About half an hour after the fight commenced our Division was brought up to the front and our Regt and the 2d N. Y. of our Brigade was put in our old rifle pitts, while the rest of the Division was sent on to where the rebel Fort had been. It seems that after the fort was blown up it still formed a sort of breastwork,2 as the earth thrown from the centre made quite a bank around the sides, and in this excavation and in the traverses or pitts surounding the fort our men crowded for protection from the rebel Artillery and the talk is that the men could not be got forward to the second line, but my own opinion is that if some of the men with stars on their shoulders, had led the way the men wouldent have been backward in following them.3 As it was our Division being sent there only made matters worse, for almost every place that would afford any protection was crowded already, and so much time had been lost, that the rebs had massed a heavy force on their second line, and it would have been pretty hard work to cary it by assault, Our Division made one or two feeble attempts but were driven back each time. It must have been horrible lying in that crowded place, as there was quite a large number of dead and wounded among them, and several peices of Artillery were throwing shot and shell in there constantly. The day was very hot indeed, and they could not get a drop of water, and many of the men were completely exhausted. In order to get back to our lines, they would have had to cross an open field about one hundred yards wide, which was completely swept by the enemy's Artillery and Infantry, some few of them tried it but the most of those that made the attempt were either killed or wounded.
About 9 Oclock the order was given for our Regt. to charge the rifle pitts in front of us. Major Wright4 was in command of the Regt. Capt Sims5 was acting Lieut Col. and had charge of the right wing, and I was acting Major and had charge of the left. As soon as the order was given to charge, I jumped up on the breastworks and sung out for the men to follow me, and the way they tumbled over them breastworks wasent Slow. Poor Cap Sims led the right wing in fine style, and just before we reached their works the Johnies skedaddled. (6Our orders were to take the works and hold them, but after we had held them for about two hours, the rebs massed a heavy force, in a ravine just in front of us, but out of our sight, and came down on us like a whirlwind, and we were forced to fall back to our old line of works. I tried my best, to keep the men from falling back, but Capt Sims was killed just at this time so it was no use trying to rally the men untill they got behind their old works. The rebel charge was one of the boldest and most desperate things I ever saw, but if our men had staid there and fought as they ought, we could have inflicted a heavy loss on the enemy, before they could have driven us away from there. The rebs did not attempt to follow us beyond their works but they kept up a sharp fire on us from behind their breastworks, but as far as our losses are concerned our Regt got off very lucky, I think about 40 killed and wounded.
Our troops in the fort held out till long after we were driven back, and several times the rebs charged right up to the bank, and some of them jumped over among our men, and went at it hand to hand, and before our men surrendered quite a good deal of fighting was done with the bayonet alone, but finaly they saw there was no help for them, and they were forced to surrender, and so the fight ended each side holding the same ground as at the commencement. One of the worst things of the whole affair was, that quite a number of our wounded lay between the rebel lines and ours, and there the poor creatures had to lay in the sun, untill the afternoon of the next day, when the rebs allowed us to send out a flag of truce to give them some water, but they wouldent allow any of them to be removed untill the second day after the fight when a ceecession of hostilities was agreed to for three or four hours, when what few were alive were brought off and the dead were burried.
During the ceesession of hostilities some of our boys went out and brought in the boddy of Capt. Sims and it is now on the way to Brooklyn.
Well Mother I think that is talk enough about fighting for this time. Things with us are going the same as ever, we have not been paid yet, but we expect the pay master in the course of a day or two. Mother I should like very much to have you send me a dozen of my pictures (those you sent to me at Annapolis you know I never received) as I have promised them to several Officers, and they keep bothering me about them all the while, I should like very much also for Walt to send me one of his new books as soon as it is published.
Jeff asked me in a letter a short time ago, if there was any chance for a fellow (in case he was drafted) to get a substitute from the men of our who are discharged at the expiration of their term of service. None of the men who have been through this Campaign, will listen to Re-enlisting at present they all think they have had sogering enough and its no use talking to them untill they have been home a month or two, then probaly a good many of them will change their minds.
Mother dont neglect to let me know whenever you hear from Hannah. I commenced this letter last night (the 9th) but soon got sleepy and turned in, and I now begin to fell the same way so I will wind up and go to bed.
Give my love to Mattie and all.Good night
G. W. Whitman”

Pictures: 1862-08-09 Currier & Ives hand colored lithograph titled, The Battle at Cedar Mountain; 1864-08-09 Wharf at City Point, 1864; 1862-08-09 cedar mountain aug-9-1862 Map; Fort Morgan Alabama

A. Friday, August 9, 1861: Confederate troops approach Springfield, Missouri with a combined force of nearly 11,000 men. Maj Gen Nathaniel Lyon sets off to meet them with only 5,400 men. By nightfall the Federals poised to deliver a double envelopment.
On the 9th it was intended to march that evening with the whole federal force united, as agreed upon the 8th, and attack the enemy's left at daylight, and Maj gen Nathaniel Lyon’s staff were busied in visiting the troops and seeing that all things were in order. During the morning Colonel Sigel visited Lyon's headquarters, and had a prolonged conference, the result of which was that Colonel Sigel was ordered to detach his brigade, the 3d and 5th Missouri, one six-gun battery, one company of the 1st U. S. Cavalry, under Captain Eugene A. Carr, and one company of the 2d Dragoons, under Lieutenant Charles E. Farrand, for an attack upon the enemy from the south, while Lyon with the remainder of his available force should attack on the north.
The troops were put in march in the evening; those about Springfield immediately under General Lyon moving out to the west on the Little York road until joined by Sturgis's command from their camps, when they turned to the south across the prairies. The head of the main column reached the point where the enemy's pickets were expected to be found, about 1 A. M., and went into bivouac. Sigel's force, consisting of 1200 men and six pieces of artillery, moved four miles down the Fayetteville road, and then, making a long detour to the left by a by-road, arrived within a mile of the enemy's camp and rear at daylight.
In the vicinity of the Fayetteville road crossing, the creek acquires considerable depth, and in most places has rough, steep, and rather high banks, rendering fording difficult. On the left side the hills assume the proportion of bluffs; on the right or western bank the ground is a succession of broken ridges, at that time covered for the most part with trees a stunted growth of scrub oaks with dense foliage, which in places became an almost impenetrable tangle. Rouch ravines and deep gullies cut up the surface.
The Confederates were under command of General Ben. McCulloch. On the west side of the stream, "Old Pap" Price, with his sturdy Missourians, men who in many later battles bore themselves with a valor and determination that won the plaudits of their comrades and the admiration of their foes, was holding the point south of Wilson's Creek, selected by Lyon for attack. Price's command consisted of five bodies of Missourians, under Slack, Clark, Parsons, McBride, and Rains, the last-named being encamped farther up the stream. On the bluffs on the east side of the creek were Hebert's 3d Louisiana and McIntosh's Arkansas regiment, and, farther south, Pearce's brigade and two batteries, while other troops, under Greer, Churchill, and Major, were in the valley along the Fayetteville road, holding the extreme of the Confederate position.
Background: Confederate troops approach Springfield, Missouri with a combined force of nearly 11,000 men. Union General Nathaniel Lyon sets off to meet them with only 5,400 men.
Lyon maneuvers to strike Price. In southwestern Missouri, a smaller Union force under the command of Nathaniel Lyon maneuvered against a larger Confederate force under Sterling Price and Ben McCulloch. Lyon planned to withdraw and consolidate his small army with other Union forces coming up, but Lyon wanted to strike at the Confederate army to disorganize it and delay any pursuit. From "Wilson's Creek, and the Death of Lyon," by Brevet Brigadier General William M. Wherry in Battles & Leaders of the Civil War: “About the middle of July, 1861, the Army of the Union in south-west Missouri, under General Nathaniel Lyon, was encamped in and near the town of Springfield, and numbered approximinately 6200 men, of whom about 500 were ill-armed and undisciplined "Home Guards." The organized troops were in all 5868, in four brigades.
By the 9th of August General Nathaniel Lyon’s forces were reduced to an aggregate of about 5300 men, with the 500 Home Guards additional. Of these troops, the 1st Iowa regiment was entitled to discharge on the 14th of August, and the 3d and 5th Missouri, Sigel's and Salomon's, at different periods, by companies, form the 9th to the 18th of August. All except the regulars had been enrolled since the attack on Sumter in April, and but little time had been possible for drill and instruction. They had been moved and marched from St. Louis and points in Kansas, taking part in several spirited but minor engagements, and were ill-provided with clothing and food, but their spirits were undaunted, and they were devoted to their leader. The latter part of July was spent by Lyon in drilling his troops and procuring supplies, the mills in the neighborhood having been seized and employed in grinding flour for the troops. He continued to send urgent appeals to St. Louis for reenforcements.
On the 1st of August, however, having received information of an advance by the enemy, in superior numbers, Lyon moved down the Fayetteville road (also known as the Cassville road) to meet and attack the largest and most advanced force, hoping to drive it back and then strike the others in detail. A lively skirmish with Price's advance-guard, under Rains, took place at Dug Springs on the 2d of August; and on the 3d a more insignificant affair occurred with the rear-guard of Rains' forces at McCulloch's farm, which had been his headquarters, but from which he retired without resistance. Here Lyon became convinced he was being drawn farther and farther from his base, without supplies, and he determined to fall back to Springfield, which place he reached on the 5th. During those blistering August days the men marched with bleeding feet and parched lips, Lyon himself urging forward the weary and footsore stragglers.
On the 8th a march in force was planned for the following night, to make an attack on the enemy's front at Wilson's Creek at daylight. From this intention General Lyon was dissuaded, after having called together the principal officers to receive their instructions. Many of the troops were exhausted, and all were tired; moreover, some supplies having arrived from Rolla, it was deemed wise to clothe and shoe the men as far as practicable, and to give them another day for recuperation.
Aftermath: Thus, by the early hours of August 10, 1861, the two wings of Lyon's small army were in position to attack the more numerous Confederates from the front and the rear and the same time. Lyons was poised to deliver a double envelopment.”
B. Saturday, August 9, 1862: Battle of Cedar Mountain. Virginia. CSA Lt Gen Stonewall Jackson defeats Maj Gen Nathaniel Banks. Stonewall Jackson’s three divisions crossed the Rapidan River and approached Banks’s position. With the August temperatures soaring, the Confederates advanced their artillery to engage the Federal line. During the prolonged artillery duel, both Stonewall Jackson and Brig. Gen. Charles Winder participated in firing Confederate artillery pieces. Although it was called “the prettiest artillery duel ever witnessed during the war,” it had significant consequences when Charles Winder was struck by shell fragments around 5pm and died a few hours later. With few subordinates aware of Jackson’s battle plan, Winder’s loss produced a dangerous leadership vacuum just as a powerful Federal attack was beginning to unfold.
At roughly 5:00 p.m., Nathaniel Banks launched two attacks against the Confederate positions. One column of Federal troops moved against Confederate forces near the Cedars while a second force advanced against the Rebel guns placed near the Crittenden Gate - one of the most prominent landmarks on the battlefield. Pressed by the Union advance, the Confederate guns and much of their infantry support pulled back from their positions at the Gate. With defeat in the air, Stonewall Jackson rode into the center of the fighting and attempted to draw his sword that was rusted within its scabbard. Undaunted, Jackson waved a battle flag and his scabbard-encased sword over his head as he worked to rally Battle of Cedar Mountainhis forces. Reinvigorated by Jackson’s bravery, the Confederates launched a counterattack that drove back the Union wave. Banks’s troops, exhausted and nearly out of ammunition, steadily gave way under the relentless Rebel pressure. Meanwhile, on the Confederate left, Jackson had urged Brig. Gen. Lawrence O"Bryan Branch’s regiments to advance on the Union line. Branch’s soldiers collapsed the Federal right, as Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell’s division drove back the left. By 7:00 p.m., the Union line was in full retreat. After a mile and a half pursuit of the Federals, Stonewall Jackson ordered a halt as night set in.
C. Tuesday, August 9, 1864: At City Point, Virginia, ships were being loaded with ammunition, so no one notices two Confederate agents, John Maxwell and R.K. Dillard, carrying a large box up to one of the ships at the wharf. At one point sentries questioned the two and they said, truthfully, that they had orders to deliver it to a barge. The orders, however, like the men, came from the Confederate Torpedo Corps. The box concealed a bomb, and when it blew up, it sets off the ammunition already loaded on the barge, this set in motion a devastating chain reaction which spreads the holocaust from the barges to storage buildings on shore and even to General Grant’s headquarters, very nearly killing US Grant. It was later reported that $2 million worth of supplies and property were lost in the explosion.
On August 9, two Confederate agents, John Maxwell and R.K. Dillard, arrived at City Point. City Point was a small hamlet and river port at the confluence of the Appomattox River and James River. It was nicknamed the Cockade City, and located about 10 miles northeast of Petersburg.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had transformed City Point into his base of operations for the Virginia area on June 15. By now, City Point became the central supply depot for all the Union armies operating against Petersburg and Richmond.
Dillard brought with him his homemade time bomb, dubbed a "horological torpedo." They were under orders "to operate...against the enemy's vessels navigating...the James River." The bomb was inside of a box and contained around 15 lbs. of explosives. Both agents managed to slip undetected past the Union picket line and then paused at City Point's outskirts, where Dillard had remained in hiding while Maxwell proceeded alone.
Maxwell saw a barge captain leave his ship on an erreand. Maxwell moved toward the ship and was halted by a wharf sentinel. He was able to pass thruough by telling the sentinel that the captain had ordered him to bring the box on board. Maxwell gave the box to one of the ship's crewman, who then unknowingly carried it onboard and stored it. The ship was the J.E. Kendrick, a barge loaded to capacity with artillery and small-arms munitions. Maxwell left the area and rejoined Dillard, retiring to a safe distance away to wait and watch the explosion. It was almost 10:00 A.M. at the time.
The explosion ripped apart the ship. Debris from the blast (all kinds of shell, munitions, pieces of wood, bayonets, parts of people, and so on) started falling all around the area. Grant was sitting in his cabin when he was struck by light debris but was uninjured. Within 5 minutes of the blast, he wired a brief description of the incedent to the War Department in Washington, D.C. It would take several days to clean up the mess. It was later reported that $2 million worth of supplies and property was lost in the explosion. The final casualty figures of 46 killed and 126 wounded were considered too low by most people.
A court of inquery ruled that the explosion was an accident. It wasn't until years after the war that the true reason for the explosion was learned. The ordnance depot was rebuilt at the end of a large pier, a good distance from the main wharf.
D. Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Siege of Fort Morgan. Admiral Farragut lays siege to Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay, Alabama. Maj Gen Granger's soldiers landed at Pilot Town on August 9 and began moving siege artillery within range. The Union fleet also turned their guns on the fort. For the next two weeks Union forces kept up a heavy and consistent artillery fire. On August 16 the Confederates abandoned two batteries of the outer defenses and Granger moved his siege mortars within 500 yards of the fort and his 30-pounder rifled guns to within 1,200 yards.


1. Saturday, August 9, 1862: George Michael Neese, a Confederate artilleryman in Chew’s Battery (Va.), serving with Stonewall Jackson’s corps, writes his impressions of the Battle of Cedar Moutain, and his scorn of Gen. Pope, with good humor—and then shares some horrifying reflections in on the bloodshed: “About three o’clock this afternoon we sighted the enemy nine miles from Culpeper Court House. Jackson’s batteries were ordered to the immediate front, took position and opened fire on the enemy right away. I think this initiatory fire was for the sole purpose of inducing this great and pompous man, Pope (who is just from the West, and boasts that he has never seen anything of the Rebels but their backs), to disclose his intentions and feel his front. The enemy was prompt in replying to Jackson’s batteries, and the cannonading soon after became general along the front, and opened the battle of Cedar Mountain.
From the way the trains were running last night and bringing troops from the direction of Richmond, and from the bustle and stir in the infantry camps, I thought that Jackson was fixing to butcher, but I had no idea that the eventful sword measuring that of the mighty Pope would be drawn so soon. I have no idea what kind of timber is in the make-up of this military giant from the West who has been feeding on eagle meat, but unless he is awfully superior to the Yankee generals that operated in the Shenandoah Valley a few months ago and butted up against old Stonewall, he will find that by the time he bumps against the sticking qualities of Jackson’s bayonets, and receives a few practical object lessons in flanking from the master of that art, he will be ready to soar to Washington and whisper to the Secretary of War that he (Pope) believes and is under the serious impression that he has had a peep at something of the Rebels on the fields of Virginia that did not exactly look altogether like their backs. . . .
The Federal dead lay all around our bivouac, and I heard the pitiful groans of the wounded and the low weakly murmurs of the dying. When I lay down on blood-stained sod to snatch a few hours of sleep it was then two hours after midnight, and the desultory artillery fire that was kept up in the fore part of the night had fully died away and the dogs of war were silent once more.
The sudden and abrupt vicissitudes of sanguinary war rush a man rough-shod from one end of the scale of human experience to the other. Last night I was lulled to sleep, as it were, by the enlivening and inspiring strains of a band playing "Home, Sweet Home"; to-day I heard the hideous roar of battle, and to-night I am kept awake by the constant and pitiful murmur of the wounded and groans of the dying without any "Sweet Home " in it.
If this cruel war lasts seventy-five years, and the, Yanks don’t kill me before it ends, I hope that I will never be compelled to bivouac on another fresh battlefield.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1862
2. Saturday, August 9, 1862: Lieutenant William H. H. (Harry) Lewis, of the 16th Mississippi Infantry in Gen. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, writes home to his mother, with an articulate and heartfelt—although cliched—expression of Southern patriotism: “Camp of 16th Regiment Miss. Vol. Aug. 9th 1862. Dear Mother; It has been over two weeks since I received a letter from you and a longer period since I wrote last. Your last was the longest I ever had the pleasure of reading being full four pages of fools [?]; and it was as interesting as lengthy. I have no valid excuse for not writing soon; but plead the time worn and effete palliation of want of news and idle and lazy procrastination.
My duties are such as occupy the golden parts of those hot, sultry, summer days – that is from day light to 11 o’clock a.m. and again from 4 o’clock to sundown in the evening. The remainder of the day is pretty much my own; though I am frequently called upon to moove [sic] about and make out reports while the fierce sun is beaming down in all its strength. I occupy the idle time at my disposal in reading and chatting and now another napping, which you know is a very dull and listless way of killing time. In fact, the life of a soldier is in my estimation one of the meanest and laziest imaginable. And were not if for the cause we are battling for I would not follow it a single hour longer. As a profession and a voluntary mode of livelyhood I would deride the idea and not allow it to engage my thoughts a moment.
But as it is, I joyfully embrace it as a means of repelling a dastardly, plundering, oppressive and cowardly foe from our homes and borders. I grasp it as the only means of preserving all that is near and dear to me – home, family, friends and country. And cheerfully I determine never to lay down my rifle as long as a Yankee remains on Southern soil – as long as the cry of subjugation and extermination is raised by the "best Government the world even saw" against a people of the same language and manners whose only offence is a desire of seperation. Every day that passes strengthens the resolution of every Southern patriot.
He sees the invader overrunning a portion of his country and burning the houses of the most conspicuous Southern men and confiscating their property, compelling the old men and families to flee for their lives to the Southern lines. He realises that wherever the track of invader is, there every thing Southern in sentiment is is a perfect desolate waste. He sees the storm coming and sallies forth to disperse it or turn its course; and resolved is he either to accomplish this or perish in the noble attempt.
And this spirit will ultimately prevail – yes! The North may railse her volunteers and draft – her conscripts by the hundred thousand and lavish her wealth by the hundred million, but to no avail. She may by her inexhaustible recourses carry on the war for years and overrun the greater portion of Southern territory, still right will prevail, and in the end the Southern people – those that survive – will raise the triumphant shout of Freedom! Freedom!! as the monstrous old decaying edifice of Union undermined by debts and her own blind folly collapses and forever settles into oblivion. But enough of this I tire you with my ranting. . . .
We are encamped in what was once an old corn field in a very warm situation but tolerably healthy. We have an abundance of flies and tents and by placing sheds built of bushes in front and rear of our domiciles manage to thwart the rays of the sun right effectually. There is no complaint about rations now as we generally get plenty of flour and beef and now and then sugar and rice. There is an inexhaustible supply of huckleberries near here covering the country for miles and as apples are plentiful we live on huckleberry pie occasionally relieved by the more acid apple. Mack prides himself on his pastry and I expect will vie with Aunt Alsy[?] when he returns home. Besides we have the Richmond papers daily which contributes to relieve monotony.
Last night the moon was full and as bright, soft and mellow as I ever beheld, even, in our own Woodville. It was a beautiful night. . . . Day before yesterday about 2 o’clock our whole division was ordered under arms in 20 minutes. The sun was distressingly hot and not a breath of air stiring. We formed and then started down the road to Malvern Hill at double quick and proceeded 5 miles to a point where our men were throwing up fortifications, which was 3 miles blow Drewry’s Bluff and the same distance from Malvern Hill. Here we halted and learned the Hill was in possession of the enemy having driven our pickets off of it; and we waited expecting to be ordered forward to meet the foe, but the order came not. We remained there two days and returned to camp after we learned the enemy had retired within their works. They thought we had no force here and thought to catch us napping but could not come it. We have sent reinforcements to Stonewall Jackson from this point and large numbers of troops coming from the more southern states have recently joined here. Swelling his force to 50,000 men with which army we confidently expect him to defeat Pope who is oppressing and trammelling the loyal people of Virginia in as base and unsoldierly a manner as Brute Butler tyranizes over the good people of New Orleans. The war is fast verging into a regular war of extermination, the repeated hanging and shooting of our citizens for trivial offences and for protecting their homes has at length called forth a proclamation of Pres. Davis who in a manly tone says that if the murder of our citizens isn’t stopped he will retalliate upon their commissioned officers. Now it only remains for the Yankees to cease their outrages or enter on a war of no quarter – or a war to the knife. It is awful to contemplate such a state of things. Still we are ready for the alternative. Dear Mother, I am getting to hate the Yankees in earnest. Their treatment of prisoners is scandalous and insufferable. Although we have taken prisoners time and again I have never seen one mistreated. On the contrary I have seen our foot sore, starving boys living on 4 crackers and a slice of bacon a day through their only cracker to a crowd of begging Yankee prisoners who greedily played the game of grab. And I have noticed at other times our men ministering to wounded Yankees and voluntaryly carrying cool water, and seldom ever saying anything annoying to them as they passed by in squads to the rear. Yet these Yankees insult our boys when prisoners and if they attempt to answer we resent it. . . .
McClellan is in his same old position at Turkey bend which he took and fortified after the battles were over. No telling what he is about, but no doubt reorganizing and strengthening his army and probably awaiting the 300,000 recruits from Yankee Land. If he ever attempts to take Richmond again it is thought he will advance on the south side of the James, where we are throwing up fortifications for defence, if necessary. I hardly think he will make the attempt before next spring. Though, he may make advances before that time. Recruiting seems to be at a stand still in most of the Northern States. Your son Harry Lewis”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1862
3. Saturday, August 9, 1862: Western theater: Because of sniping against US traffic on the Mississippi, Admiral Farragut launches a retaliatory attack on Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The sniping in that area stops.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
4. Saturday, August 9, 1862: Information from scouts and a lost letter written by Gov. Isham Harris of Tennessee (which was found by Federal soldiers) indicate to Gen. Buell that the Confederates under Bragg and Kirby-Smith in eastern Tennessee are planning a move northward soon. He sends this information on to Gen. Halleck in Washington.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1862
5. Saturday, August 9, 1862: Manassas/Second Manassas Campaign – Cedar Run/Slaughter’s Mountain/Cedar Mountain. General Jackson is despondent about the delays but continues to press forward, noting that US infantry is about 5 miles away and the cavalry close to his own. Bayard has halted his cavalry and supporting infantry at Cedar Run to meet Jackson. At roughly 5 p.m., General Banks launches a double-pronged attack. His forces gain an early advantage during the battle, but A. P. Hill later launches a counterattack and wins the day, although CS General Charles Sidney Winder, leading the Stonewall Brigade, is killed. During a truce in mid-battle, as both sides gather and bury their dead, generals Bayard and Stuart, according to a Washington paper, meet and get talking about old times. Nearby, a wounded Union soldier is calling for water.
‘Here, Jeb,’ said Bayard – old time recollections making him familiar as he tossed his bridle to the rebel officer – ‘hold my horse a minute, will you, till I fetch that poor fellow some water.’ Jeb held the bridle. Bayard went to a stream and brought the wounded man some water. As Bayard mounted his horse, Jeb remarked that it was the first time he had ‘played orderly to a Union General.’” Stuart was then a major general in the Confederate service. The business for which they met was soon arranged, and when the bugle sounded the recall, they shook hands and turned away, mortal enemies again.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
6. Sunday, August 9: 1863: Beginning to move at last, Rosecrans orders several of his army’s corps to move toward the Tennessee River. He also dispatches troops to chase down Gen. Forrest who, in characteristic fashion, is plaguing the Yankees with raids in the flank and rear.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1863
7. Sunday, August 9, 1863: The debate had gone on since long before the war about what the proper role for blacks should be in American society. Almost no one, north or south, advocated full equality with whites. Today, President Lincoln writes to General Ulysses S. Grant (US) and lobbies for the recruitment of black soldiers. Lincoln writes, "Gen. [Lorenzo] Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us."
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
8. Sunday, August 9: 1863: John Beauchamp Jones, of the War Department in Richmond, writes in his journal of his garden---one attempt at dealing with the worsening food shortage in the Confederate capital: “We have fine hot August weather now, and I hope my tomatoes will mature, and thus save me two dollars per day. My potatoes have, so far, failed; but as they are still green, perhaps they may produce a crop later in the season. The lima beans, trailed on the fence, promise an abundant crop; and the cabbages and peppers look well. Every inch of the ground is in cultivation—even the ash-heap, covered all over with tomato-vines.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1863
9. Sunday, August 9: 1863: Annie M. Schon writes to her sister Bettie Kimberley in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and discusses the horrific inflation in the South, and of its effect on the Kimberley family, since Mr. Kimberley is on the faculty at the University of North Carolina: “You speak of the prices in Chapel Hill, they are just the same here, and it is frightful to think how much we pay for so little but when we think of the value of our currency we ought not to be surprised at the cost of things for in reality one dollar now is not work more than ten cents used to be. But I think it is shameful Mr. Kimberly’s salary has not been raised. I don’t know how the professors can be expected to live on the same amount they received formerly when prices have increased so much. . . . we will yet see the day when we will look back even upon the present prices and consider them very low, and I have now determined to buy as soon as possible every thing I will need for the next year, and I would buy for 2 years to come but Mr. Schon thinks it is best not to do so, as he thinks in a year we will have brighter times, but I have given up the hope & since our late misfortunes, think the war may continue for years.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1863
10. Sunday, August 9: 1863: President Lincoln writes to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, strongly urging vigorous action in the recruitment of black troops: "Gen. [Lorenzo] Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us."
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1863
11. Sunday, August 9: 1863: President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Major General Ulysses S. Grant about grand strategy and Lincoln's desire that large numbers of Black troops be raised along the Mississippi River.
Executive Mansion, “My dear General Grant: Washington, August 9, 1863. I see by a despatch of yours that you incline quite strongly towards an expedition against Mobile. This would appear tempting to me also, were it not that in view of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas as soon as possible. I am not making an order, however. That I leave, for the present at least, to the General-in-Chief.
A word upon another subject. Gen. Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us. We were not fully ripe for it until the river was opened. Now, I think at least a hundred thousand can, and ought to be rapidly organized along it's shores, relieving all the white troops to serve elsewhere.
Mr. Dana understands you as believing that the emancipation proclamation has helped some in your military operations. I am very glad if this is so. Did you receive a short letter from me, dated the 13th of July?
Yours very truly A. LINCOLN.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1863
12. Tuesday, August 9, 1864: George Washington Whitman, brother of poet Walt Whitman, wrote home to their mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. “In front of Petersburg Va. 10 O clock Tuesday night Aug 9th. Dear Mother. I have just come in from the front, where we have been on picket for the last 48 hours, and as everything is quiet, and I dont care to turn in just yet, I will do as I promised the last time I wrote, (I see by Walts letter of Aug. 4th that you got mine all right,) and tell you something about our fight here on the 30th of last Month.
Well Mother, to begin at the begining, you must know that for 4 or 5 weeks before the great blow up came off, one of the Regts, of our Brigade (the 48th Penn.) had been at work digging a mine, starting about 100 feet in rear of the line that our Regt. occupies when on picket, and running under a rebel fort, just to the left and front of us, and about 175 yeards from where the mine started. This was quite a great undertaking and as I understand, pronounced by the regular Engineers of the Potomac Army as not at all likely to suceed, but the Regt. that had the work in charge are nearly all Coal Miners from Penn. and their Lieut. Col. (Pleasants) was a mining Engineer at home, so they just kept on at their work, and on the 29th of last month, the thing was all charged and ready to touch off. On the Evening of the 29th (our Regt being picket at the time) we were notified to be ready to leave the rifle pitts at moments notice, and somewhere about 4 Oclock on the morning of the 30th we were ordered to leave a small force in the pitts to keep up the usual amount of fireing (so that the enemy wouldent suspect anything) and to fall back, about a quarter of a mile with the rest of the Regt. and wait for orders. After going back as we were ordered, we waited for an hour, and had made up our minds that the thing was a failure (as the fuse had been lighted before we left the pitts and it was expected to take about 25 minutes to burn to the magazines) when we felt the earth tremble under our feet, and immidately a vast column of earth was thrown up in the air very much resembling (in shape) a hugh water spout, and as we hear since burying in its fall several guns and quite a number of Rebs. The Artillerynen all along our line were standing by their guns ready to fire, and the very second the explosion took place the fire from nearly a hundred peices of Artillery opened along our line, and take it all togather I think it was the most exciting sight I ever saw.
From what I have since learned, I think the programe was something like this. I think it was intended the instant the Fort was blown up, for the First Division of our Corps (who were formed close up to the front) to charge through the First line of the enemy, and push on to the second, which it was expected during the panic and surprise of the enemy they could easily take and hold. Our Division the 2d was then to charge on the right, and the Third on the left, while the Fourth Division (The Darkies) were to be thrown forward, passing through the First Division, and advancing on to Petersburg, the Fourth Division to be followed and suported by parts of the 5th 10th & 18th corps, who were massed just inside our lines. The plan I think was a good one and as yet, I cant see why, with proper management it couldent have been carried out, but it seems the First Division that should have been moved forward on the instant, did not (for some reason or another) advance for some time after the explosion, and then only as far as the enemys 1st line. About half an hour after the fight commenced our Division was brought up to the front and our Regt and the 2d N. Y. of our Brigade was put in our old rifle pitts, while the rest of the Division was sent on to where the rebel Fort had been. It seems that after the fort was blown up it still formed a sort of breastwork,2 as the earth thrown from the centre made quite a bank around the sides, and in this excavation and in the traverses or pitts surounding the fort our men crowded for protection from the rebel Artillery and the talk is that the men could not be got forward to the second line, but my own opinion is that if some of the men with stars on their shoulders, had led the way the men wouldent have been backward in following them.3 As it was our Division being sent there only made matters worse, for almost every place that would afford any protection was crowded already, and so much time had been lost, that the rebs had massed a heavy force on their second line, and it would have been pretty hard work to cary it by assault, Our Division made one or two feeble attempts but were driven back each time. It must have been horrible lying in that crowded place, as there was quite a large number of dead and wounded among them, and several peices of Artillery were throwing shot and shell in there constantly. The day was very hot indeed, and they could not get a drop of water, and many of the men were completely exhausted. In order to get back to our lines, they would have had to cross an open field about one hundred yards wide, which was completely swept by the enemy's Artillery and Infantry, some few of them tried it but the most of those that made the attempt were either killed or wounded.
About 9 Oclock the order was given for our Regt. to charge the rifle pitts in front of us. Major Wright4 was in command of the Regt. Capt Sims5 was acting Lieut Col. and had charge of the right wing, and I was acting Major and had charge of the left. As soon as the order was given to charge, I jumped up on the breastworks and sung out for the men to follow me, and the way they tumbled over them breastworks wasent Slow. Poor Cap Sims led the right wing in fine style, and just before we reached their works the Johnies skedaddled. (6Our orders were to take the works and hold them, but after we had held them for about two hours, the rebs massed a heavy force, in a ravine just in front of us, but out of our sight, and came down on us like a whirlwind, and we were forced to fall back to our old line of works. I tried my best, to keep the men from falling back, but Capt Sims was killed just at this time so it was no use trying to rally the men untill they got behind their old works. The rebel charge was one of the boldest and most desperate things I ever saw, but if our men had staid there and fought as they ought, we could have inflicted a heavy loss on the enemy, before they could have driven us away from there. The rebs did not attempt to follow us beyond their works but they kept up a sharp fire on us from behind their breastworks, but as far as our losses are concerned our Regt got off very lucky, I think about 40 killed and wounded.
Our troops in the fort held out till long after we were driven back, and several times the rebs charged right up to the bank, and some of them jumped over among our men, and went at it hand to hand, and before our men surrendered quite a good deal of fighting was done with the bayonet alone, but finaly they saw there was no help for them, and they were forced to surrender, and so the fight ended each side holding the same ground as at the commencement. One of the worst things of the whole affair was, that quite a number of our wounded lay between the rebel lines and ours, and there the poor creatures had to lay in the sun, untill the afternoon of the next day, when the rebs allowed us to send out a flag of truce to give them some water, but they wouldent allow any of them to be removed untill the second day after the fight when a ceecession of hostilities was agreed to for three or four hours, when what few were alive were brought off and the dead were burried.
During the ceesession of hostilities some of our boys went out and brought in the boddy of Capt. Sims and it is now on the way to Brooklyn.
Well Mother I think that is talk enough about fighting for this time. Things with us are going the same as ever, we have not been paid yet, but we expect the pay master in the course of a day or two. Mother I should like very much to have you send me a dozen of my pictures (those you sent to me at Annapolis you know I never received) as I have promised them to several Officers, and they keep bothering me about them all the while, I should like very much also for Walt to send me one of his new books as soon as it is published.
Jeff asked me in a letter a short time ago, if there was any chance for a fellow (in case he was drafted) to get a substitute from the men of our who are discharged at the expiration of their term of service. None of the men who have been through this Campaign, will listen to Re-enlisting at present they all think they have had sogering enough and its no use talking to them untill they have been home a month or two, then probaly a good many of them will change their minds.
Mother dont neglect to let me know whenever you hear from Hannah. I commenced this letter last night (the 9th) but soon got sleepy and turned in, and I now begin to fell the same way so I will wind up and go to bed.
Give my love to Mattie and all.Good night
G. W. Whitman”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1864
13. Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Mississippi operations: Forrest establishes his headquarters at Pontotoc, his wounded foot still in a sling. Colonel Alexander Chalmers is forced to fall back from the Tallahatchie to Abbeville and then, I think, to Oxford, near which US forces stop for the night. General A. J. Smith crosses the river with a division of US troops during the night of the August 9-10. Per The Capture of Memphis. Southern Historical Society: “The Eighteenth Mississippi Cavalry, not over 300 strong, commanded by that brilliant young Colonel Alexander H. Chalmers, was holding the line of the Tallahatchie in front of Abbeville. His position was a very unfavorable one. The south bank of the river was much lower than the north bank, and furthermore the timber had been cut from the south bank for a distance of half a mile, while the north bank was thickly wooded to the river. The enemy forced the pickets from the river bank with his big guns, but Colonel Chalmers formed a line on a ride in the edge of the woods, about half a mile back, and soon got together rails and timbers which he used as breast-works. The enemy threw several regiments across the river and moved against the Mississippians, but were driven back. Colonel Chalmers held his position until late in the evening of August 9, and then retired to Abbeville, where he was re-enforced by General Chalmers with McCulloch’s brigade.”
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-4-10-1864/


A Friday, August 9, 1861: Confederate troops approach Springfield, Missouri with a combined force of nearly 11,000 men. Union General Nathaniel Lyon sets off to meet them with only 5,400 men.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-seventeen
A+ Friday, August 9, 1861: Lyon maneuvers to strike Price. In southwestern Missouri, a smaller Union force under the command of Nathaniel Lyon maneuvered against a larger Confederate force under Sterling Price and Ben McCulloch. Lyon planned to withdraw and consolidate his small army with other Union forces coming up, but Lyon wanted to strike at the Confederate army to disorganize it and delay any pursuit. From "Wilson's Creek, and the Death of Lyon," by Brevet Brigadier General William M. Wherry in Battles & Leaders of the Civil War: “About the middle of July, 1861, the Army of the Union in south-west Missouri, under General Nathaniel Lyon, was encamped in and near the town of Springfield, and numbered approximinately 6200 men, of whom about 500 were ill-armed and undisciplined "Home Guards." The organized troops were in all 5868, in four brigades. By the 9th of August these were reduced to an aggregate of about 5300 men, with the 500 Home Guards additional. Of these troops, the 1st Iowa regiment was entitled to discharge on the 14th of August, and the 3d and 5th Missouri, Sigel's and Salomon's, at different periods, by companies, form the 9th to the 18th of August. All except the regulars had been enrolled since the attack on Sumter in April, and but little time had been possible for drill and instruction. They had been moved and marched from St. Louis and points in Kansas, taking part in several spirited but minor engagements, and were ill-provided with clothing and food, but their spirits were undaunted, and they were devoted to their leader.
The latter part of July was spent by Lyon in drilling his troops and procuring supplies, the mills in the neighborhood having been seized and employed in grinding flour for the troops. He continued to send urgent appeals to St. Louis for reenforcements.
On the 1st of August, however, having received information of an advance by the enemy, in superior numbers, Lyon moved down the Fayetteville road (also known as the Cassville road) to meet and attack the largest and most advanced force, hoping to drive it back and then strike the others in detail. A lively skirmish with Price's advance-guard, under Rains, took place at Dug Springs on the 2d of August; and on the 3d a more insignificant affair occurred with the rear-guard of Rains' forces at McCulloch's farm, which had been his headquarters, but from which he retired without resistance. Here Lyon became convinced he was being drawn farther and farther from his base, without supplies, and he determined to fall back to Springfield, which place he reached on the 5th. During those blistering August days the men marched with bleeding feet and parched lips, Lyon himself urging forward the weary and footsore stragglers.
On the 8th a march in force was planned for the following night, to make an attack on the enemy's front at Wilson's Creek at daylight. From this intention General Lyon was dissuaded, after having called together the principal officers to receive their instructions. Many of the troops were exhausted, and all were tired; moreover, some supplies having arrived from Rolla, it was deemed wise to clothe and shoe the men as far as practicable, and to give them another day for recuperation.
On the 9th it was intended to march that evening with the whole force united, as agreed upon the 8th, and attack the enemy's left at daylight, and Lyon's staff were busied in visiting the troops and seeing that all things were in order. During the morning Colonel Sigel visited Lyon's headquarters, and had a prolonged conference, the result of which was that Colonel Sigel was ordered to detach his brigade, the 3d and 5th Missouri, one six-gun battery, one company of the 1st U. S. Cavalry, under Captain Eugene A. Carr, and one company of the 2d Dragoons, under Lieutenant Charles E. Farrand, for an attack upon the enemy from the south, while Lyon with the remainder of his available force should attack on the north.
The troops were put in march in the evening; those about Springfield immediately under General Lyon moving out to the west on the Little York road until joined by Sturgis's command from their camps, when they turned to the south across the prairies. The head of the main column reached the point where the enemy's pickets were expected to be found, about 1 A. M., and went into bivouac. Sigel's force, consisting of 1200 men and six pieces of artillery, moved four miles down the Fayetteville road, and then, making a long detour to the left by a by-road, arrived within a mile of the enemy's camp and rear at daylight.
In the vicinity of the Fayetteville road crossing, the creek acquires considerable depth, and in most places has rough, steep, and rather high banks, rendering fording difficult. On the left side the hills assume the proportion of bluffs; on the right or western bank the ground is a succession of broken ridges, at that time covered for the most part with trees a stunted growth of scrub oaks with dense foliage, which in places became an almost impenetrable tangle. Rouch ravines and deep gullies cut up the surface.
The Confederates were under command of General Ben. McCulloch. On the west side of the stream, "Old Pap" Price, with his sturdy Missourians, men who in many later battles bore themselves with a valor and determination that won the plaudits of their comrades and the admiration of their foes, was holding the point south of Wilson's Creek, selected by Lyon for attack. Price's command consisted of five bodies of Missourians, under Slack, Clark, Parsons, McBride, and Rains, the last-named being encamped farther up the stream. On the bluffs on the east side of the creek were Hebert's 3d Louisiana and McIntosh's Arkansas regiment, and, farther south, Pearce's brigade and two batteries, while other troops, under Greer, Churchill, and Major, were in the valley along the Fayetteville road, holding the extreme of the Confederate position.
Thus,by the early hours of August 10, 1861, the two wings of Lyon's small army were in position to attack the more numerous Confederates from the front and the rear and the same time. Lyons was poised to deliver a double envelopment.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1861
B Saturday, August 9, 1862: Battle of Cedar Mountain [US] Battle of Slaughter Mountain [CS] Other names: Cedar Run, Cedar Run Mountain, Southwest Mountain Stonewall Jackson [CS] defeats Nathaniel Banks [US].
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186208
B+ Saturday, August 9, 1862: Some called it Cedar Mountain. After today it was better known as Slaughter Mountain. General John Pope (US) was near Culpeper, Va., heading for Gordonsville to capture the railroad junction there. Stonewall Jackson’s (CSA) corps was there in wait. The Federals gained an early advantage, but a Confederate counterattack led by A.P. Hill (CSA) repulsed the Federals and won the day. Confederate General William Winder was killed along with 1,200 other Southerners and 1,500 Northerners.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-sixty-nine
B++ Saturday, August 9, 1862: Battle of Cedar Mountain. Virginia. Eastern Theater, Second Bull Run Campaign U.S. Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks (8,030); C.S. Maj. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (16,868)
Due to a mix-up in verbal orders, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks II Corps of Pope’s Army of Virginia moves forward to Gen. Crawford’s position (whose brigade has been the point of the spear for several days) and deploys by itself just north of the flank of Cedar Mountain, skirmishers deployed, to intercept Jackson and to attack the Rebel force if Jackson began to deploy for an attack. Missing is Sigel’s I Corps, which is intended to protect Banks’ flank and attack with him, as well as an additional division under Gen. Ricketts, and other supporting troops. Banks prepares to be attacked. Jackson arrives and immediately deploys Ewell’s division–Early’s brigade to the left, and the rest of the division to the right, deployed on the northeastern slope of the mountain. Jackson places his artillery in the center, and the Union guns answer in a cannon duel. Gen. Winder’s division comes up, but A.P. Hill’s division (more than half of Jackson’s total force) is somehow behind the Confederate wagon train back on the road, and is coming forward slowly, having to go around the wagons. Jackson realizes that Banks is alone, and decides to attack: Winder will go left, in contact with Early’s troops, to envelope the Federal right; Ewell and his remaining three brigades (Thomas, Forno, and Trimble) will strike the Federal left, and try to bend the enemy flank back. The Southern artillery begins to prevail over the Northern guns (a rare occurrence), and Gen. Winder is personally directing the fire of the batteries when a Federal shell explodes, tearing off his arm and wounding him mortally: he would die a few hours later. Meanwhile, Gen. Banks follows his orders: seeing the Rebel attack coming, he forms up an attack and as he hits the Rebels, Winder’s line begins to crumble, as does Early’s. Lacking orders, Winder’s troops begin to falter, and the Southern line falls back. Crawford’s Union brigade especially performs well, and breaks the famous Stonewall Brigade. Jackson grabs a battle flag and begins to ride forward, rallying his men and leading them forward. The Rebels rally (as a panicky aide leads Jackson back to safety) and push back at the Federal line. The Stonewall Brigade pushes back Crawford’s bluecoats, and drive them so far that they end up behind the rest of the Yankee line. At that moment, Hill finally arrives in the nick of time, and Jackson orders Hill’s first two brigades into the fight. Hill’s men hit the Federals while they are still advancing. Ewell, on Hill’s right, strikes the Federal flank, and Banks’ attack falters and then breaks, fleeing to the rear. Gen. Pope arrives at the battlefield in time to see Banks’ men retreat—and in fact are surprised and almost captured by the victorious advancing Confederates. Ricketts’ Federals arrive at dusk, but only skirmish with Hill’s men a little. Confederate Victory.
Losses: Killed Wounded Captured Total
Union 314 1,445 622 2,381
Confederate 223 1,060 31 1,314
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+9%2C+1862
B++ Saturday, August 9, 1862: Battle of Cedar Mountain. Virginia. Stonewall Jackson’s three divisions crossed the Rapidan River and approached Banks’s position. With the August temperatures soaring, the Confederates advanced their artillery to engage the Federal line. During the prolonged artillery duel, both Stonewall Jackson and Brig. Gen. Charles Winder participated in firing Confederate artillery pieces. Although it was called “the prettiest artillery duel ever witnessed during the war,” it had significant consequences when Charles Winder was struck by shell fragments around 5pm and died a few hours later. With few subordinates aware of Jackson’s battle plan, Winder’s loss produced a dangerous leadership vacuum just as a powerful Federal attack was beginning to unfold.
At roughly 5:00 p.m., Nathaniel Banks launched two attacks against the Confederate positions. One column of Federal troops moved against Confederate forces near the Cedars while a second force advanced against the Rebel guns placed near the Crittenden Gate - one of the most prominent landmarks on the battlefield. Pressed by the Union advance, the Confederate guns and much of their infantry support pulled back from their positions at the Gate. With defeat in the air, Stonewall Jackson rode into the center of the fighting and attempted to draw his sword that was rusted within its scabbard. Undaunted, Jackson waved a battle flag and his scabbard-encased sword over his head as he worked to rally Battle of Cedar Mountainhis forces. Reinvigorated by Jackson’s bravery, the Confederates launched a counterattack that drove back the Union wave. Banks’s troops, exhausted and nearly out of ammunition, steadily gave way under the relentless Rebel pressure. Meanwhile, on the Confederate left, Jackson had urged Brig. Gen. Lawrence O"Bryan Branch’s regiments to advance on the Union line. Branch’s soldiers collapsed the Federal right, as Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell’s division drove back the left. By 7:00 p.m., the Union line was in full retreat. After a mile and a half pursuit of the Federals, Stonewall Jackson ordered a halt as night set in.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/cedar-mountain.html?tab=facts
Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Explosion of an ordinance vessel rocks the wharves at City Point.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186408
C Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Siege of Petersburg: Confederate agents blow up an ordnance ship at City Point after Grant returns to his headquarters there from conferences in Washington. They miss Grant (barely), who tells General Halleck, “Every part of the yard occupied as my Hd Qrs is filled with splinters and fragments of shells.”
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-4-10-1864/
C+ Tuesday, August 9, 1864: At City Point, Virginia, ships were being loaded with ammunition, so no one notices two men carrying a large box up to one of the ships at the wharf. At one point sentries questioned the two and they said, truthfully, that they had orders to deliver it to a barge. The orders, however, like the men, came from the Confederate Torpedo Corps. The box concealed a bomb, and when it blew up, it sets off the ammunition already loaded on the barge, this set in motion a devastating chain reaction which spreads the holocaust from the barges to storage buildings on shore and even to General Grant’s headquarters, very nearly killing US Grant. It was later reported that $2 million worth of supplies and property were lost in the explosion. (or about $37 million in today’s money) Meanwhile, Sherman in Atlanta begins a bombardment of cannon fire on the city, electing to surround the city as best as he could, ensure no trains could supply the city and thus starve it out. And the siege at Fort Morgan begins as well, with cannon fire.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
C++ Tuesday, August 9, 1864: City Point, Virginia - On August 9, two Confederate agents, John Maxwell and R.K. Dillard, arrived at City Point. City Point was a small hamlet and river port at the confluence of the Appomattox River and James River. It was nicknamed the Cockade City, and located about 10 miles northeast of Petersburg.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had transformed City Point into his base of operations for the Virginia area on June 15. By now, City Point became the central supply depot for all the Union armies operating against Petersburg and Richmond.
Dillard brought with him his homemade time bomb, dubbed a "horological torpedo." They were under orders "to operate...against the enemy's vessels navigating...the James River." The bomb was inside of a box and contained around 15 lbs. of explosives. Both agents managed to slip undetected past the Union picket line and then paused at City Point's outskirts, where Dillard had remained in hiding while Maxwell proceeded alone.
Maxwell saw a barge captain leave his ship on an erreand. Maxwell moved toward the ship and was halted by a wharf sentinel. He was able to pass thruough by telling the sentinel that the captain had ordered him to bring the box on board. Maxwell gave the box to one of the ship's crewman, who then unknowingly carried it onboard and stored it. The ship was the J.E. Kendrick, a barge loaded to capacity with artillery and small-arms munitions. Maxwell left the area and rejoined Dillard, retiring to a safe distance away to wait and watch the explosion. It was almost 10:00 A.M. at the time.
The explosion ripped apart the ship. Debris from the blast (all kinds of shell, munitions, pieces of wood, bayonets, parts of people, and so on) started falling all around the area. Grant was sitting in his cabin when he was struck by light debris but was uninjured. Within 5 minutes of the blast, he wired a brief description of the incedent to the War Department in Washington, D.C. It would take several days to clean up the mess. It was later reported that $2 million worth of supplies and property was lost in the explosion. The final casualty figures of 46 killed and 126 wounded were considered too low by most people.
A court of inquery ruled that the explosion was an accident. It wasn't until years after the war that the true reason for the explosion was learned. The ordnance depot was rebuilt at the end of a large pier, a good distance from the main wharf.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
D Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Battle of Mobile Bay. Federals lay siege to Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay, Alabama.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186408
D+ Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Alabama operations, Mobile Bay: Farragut lays siege to Fort Morgan.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-4-10-1864/
D++ Tuesday, August 9, 1864: Federals lay siege to Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay, Alabama. Maj Gen Granger's soldiers landed at Pilot Town on August 9 and began moving siege artillery within range. Tuesday, August 9, 1864: The Union fleet also turned their guns on the fort. For the next two weeks Union forces kept up a heavy and consistent artillery fire. On August 16 the Confederates abandoned two batteries of the outer defenses and Granger moved his siege mortars within 500 yards of the fort and his 30-pounder rifled guns to within 1,200 yards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Morgan
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt Lawrence McCarter A1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant MSgt Robert C AldiSSG Byron Howard Sr Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM SPC Mike Bennett SrA Ronald Moore

Very good read through Civil War history on August 9 LTC Stephen F.; I went with all the events were important!

thanks for the History Link...