Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Wednesday, September 21, 1864 : General Forrest crosses the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals and heads toward Athens, Alabama. In the Shenandoah Valley, General Early (CSA) now was in a desperate race to move back to Lee in Petersburg, but the Union army is still advancing, driving back Southern skirmishers and capturing important high ground. Thursday, September 22, 1864 : Union troops outflank General Early’s (CSA) positions and attacked about 4 p.m. The Confederate cavalry offered little resistance, and the infantry is unable to face the attacking force. The Confederate defense collapses. Early retreats to Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro. General Early loses another 1,200 men in this attack, and now he only has half the men he had a week ago. This opens the Valley to the Union. The guerrilla fighters in Carthage, Missouri capture the city, then burn it to the ground with more fighting at Patterson, Sikeston and Longwood. Friday, September 23, 1864 : General Early’s (CSA) weakened army embarked on another rapid withdrawal. This time they were not vigorously pursued. To please Radical Republicans before the Election of 1864, Lincoln asks Montgomery Blair to resign as Postmaster General, which he does later in the day. Blair was also a leader of the moderate faction of the Democratic Party, which made him very awkward to have around for the Radical Republican Party and during Lincoln’s campaign. Saturday, September 24, 1864 : Lieut. General Ulysses S. Grant (U.S.) declares that if this war is to last another year, no provisions for the Confederate Army will come from the Shenandoah Valley. General Grant wanted nothing left for the South to use, so General Sherman will start his “scorched earth” invasion. Mills and barns from Staunton to Strasburg are burned in what will be known as the “Burning” or “Red October.” Confederate troops of General Forrest takes Athens, Alabama along with 600 Union prisoners with plans to move into Tennessee and move toward Pulaski. In Missouri, Sterling Price’s Confederate raiders plunder in Fayette, along with Jackson and Farmington. Sunday, September 25, 1864 : After losing Atlanta to General Sherman (U.S.), Confederate President Jefferson Davis visits with General John Bell Hood (CSA) at Palmetto, Georgia. Hood asks permission to relieve General William Hardee, who he still blames for losing Atlanta. At Sulphur Trestle Fort near the Tennessee border and Elkmont,

Alabama, General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s (CSA) troops attack the fort, which was built to protect the railroad. After a five hour battle all the officers that outranked Eli Lilly (U.S.) were either killed or wounded and Lilly found himself in charge of the garrison. Being hopelessly outnumbered, he asked for surrender terms. Forrest demanded an unconditional surrender, but Lilly held out for terms in which all defenders would be treated as prisoners of war. In all 200 Union troops were killed and 800 surrendered. The black soldiers were still sold into slavery, and white enlisted men were sent to a prison camp at Cahaba, Alabama. Lilly and the other remaining officers fared better and are sent to a prison camp

in Enterprise, Mississippi. After the war and a failed cotton-planting venture and even losing his wife due to illness, Eli Lilly (pictured) returns to the North to his pharmaceutical chemistry roots and will become known worldwide for his Eli Lilly & Company. Monday, September 26, 1864 : Major General Philip Henry Sheridan’s Union forces attacks General Early’s men in the Blue Ridge Mountains at Port Republic and Weyer's Cave, Virginia. Sheridan’s troops are burning barns, fields, houses, and anything of use to the South. Now back fighting in Missouri, General Price (CSA) heads toward Fort Davidson, but his goal is to seize