Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Sunday, July 24, 1864 : General Jubal Early’s Confederate army now safely back in the Shenandoah Valley, he turns his men North again & attacks Brig. General George Crook’s (U.S.) army at Kernstown, Virginia and drives them back across the Potomac River back into Maryland. This is the 2nd Battle of Kernstown and it played out just like the first one. The Yankees should have taken notes, the first time there. This time the Union left 1,200 casualties and 600 for the South. About thirty Confederate guerrillas at Collierville, Tennessee attack the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The guerrillas kill or capture seven while losing 5 themselves. On the Virginia shore of Chesapeake Bay, Confederate guerrillas captured and burned the steamer Kingston (U.S.), which had run aground the preceding day between Smith’s Point and Windmill Point. Monday, July 25, 1864 : Outside Petersburg, another second battle is fought, The Second Battle of Ream’s Station, Virginia, where again, Confederate troops secure a vital supply line into Petersburg, Virginia. The South halts the destruction of the Weldon and Petersburg Railroad by Union troops. Confederate Generals Ambrose P. Hill’s infantry and General Wade Hampton’s cavalry are ordered to attack the Federals tearing up the tracks, and when it was over, the Union lost over 3,400 troops. Most of whom, were captured during their retreat. Although the Confederates had won a clear victory, they had lost a vital piece of the Weldon Railroad and from this point on they would be able to transport supplies by rail only as far north as Stony Creek Depot, 16 miles south of Petersburg. From that point, supplies had to be unloaded onto wagon trains. The South Side Railroad was the only railroad left to supply Petersburg and Lee’s army. In Alabama, U.S.S. Hartford, Monongahela, and Sebago watch the Mobile Bay area in an attempt to discover a number of water mines laid by Confederates off Fort Morgan. Their men located, and cut loose many of the torpedoes. This hazardous work was indispensable to the success of the Navy’s coming operations against Mobile. Several similar night operations were conducted. Tuesday, July 26, 1864 : In Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman (U.S.) appoints O. O. Howard commander of the Army of the Tennessee (U.S.) and then sends General George Stoneman (U.S.) on an expedition which would become known to history as Stoneman’s Raid. His assignment was to tear up railroad tracks and otherwise wreak whatever havoc on the transportation system anywhere he could. He was pointed in the direction of Macon and turned loose. “A Sherman Bowtie” (pictured) was when Union soldiers would dismantle a railroad section, build a fire to heat the rails on, and bend them around a tree, making them useless. Wednesday, July 27, 1864 : General Sherman sends General O. O. Howard’s (U.S.) large cavalry units south of Atlanta to cut off the railways there. General John B. Hood (CSA) had replaced Joseph Johnston (CSA) as commander of the Army of Tennessee, just 10 days earlier, because Johnston had failed to keep Sherman away from Atlanta. Upon assuming command of the Confederate Army, General Hood quickly scrapped General Johnston’s (CSA) defensive strategy and attacked Grant’s (U.S.) positions twice. He lost both times. Hood again is determined to attack and sends the two corps of Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee and Lieutenant General Alexander P. Stewart to intercept and destroy the Union force. General Howard (U.S.) foresees such a maneuver and prepares for an attack.