Chronological History of the American Civil War

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months recovering from wounds at the Battle of the Wilderness, in Virginia, in May. Longstreet was shot by his own troops, while scouting the lines during the battle. Ironically, it was just a few miles from the spot where General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson had been mortally wounded by his men one year earlier. General Beauregard (CSA) assumes the command of the Confederate Military Division of the West, east of the Mississippi River. The town of Carrollton, Missouri surrenders and is captured by General Sterling Price (CSA) while Smithville, is being burned by his men. Union forces close in on Sterling’s men near Lexington. This is the first time he realizes there are not one but two Union units coming at him, one behind him (which he already knew about) and one ahead (which he did not.) Tuesday, October 18, 1864 : Although he is outnumbered, General Early (CSA) decides with his officers to attack General Sheridan (U.S.). He knew, he could he not adequately feed his army, and that just running was demoralizing his men. He will attack in the morning. There is more fighting near Huntsville, as Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) moves his Army of Tennessee towards Gadsden, Alabama along the railroad line on the Chattanooga to Atlanta Railroad. Wednesday, October 19, 1864 : General Early’s 10,000 men attack General Philip Sheridan’s 30,000 corps in the early morning fog achieving near total surprise. The Rebels force the Yankees back 3 miles that morning. By midday, the exhausted Confederates withdrew. Sheridan (U.S.) was on his way back from Washington, when he learns of the attack, reaches the battlefield about 10:30 a.m. and begins to rally his men. Fortunately for Sheridan, Early’s men are too occupied to take notice; they are hungry and exhausted and fell out of their ranks to pillage the Union camps. By later that afternoon, Sheridan rallies his men to counter-attack driving the Southerners back to Fisher’s Hill with heavy losses. Early’s army lost 3,000 men in total. The Union lost over 5,550 men in total, but Sheridan’s army could sustain this lost. Lieut. Bennett H. Young (CSA) and his band of about 25 Confederates cross the Canadian border about 15 miles and move on St. Albans,Vermont, where they rob 3 banks of over $200,000 before a dozen of the raiders flee back across the border and are captured, but later released by the Canadian officials. Only $75,000 of the stolen money was ever recovered. Thursday, October 20, 1864 : President Lincoln (U.S.) formally establishes Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In Virginia, General Sheridan (U.S.) considers General Early’s (CSA) force no longer a major threat and does not pursue him. When General Sterling Price started his ride through Missouri to liberate it from the Union, he figured men would join his force along the

way. Truth is everyone that wanted to fight was fighting already, on one side or the other or as guerrillas, so the further he rode, the less friendly the people were. In fact now near Lexington, Missouri, General Price has the Union Army closing in on three sides and the Missouri River on his forth side.

Richard Taylor (pictured) (CSA) was a brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis and also a son of President Zachary Taylor. After successfully winning the Red River Campaign, President has assigned him to command of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana and promoted him to lieutenant general. Today, in Memphis, the Union militia is called out when they learn a large Confederate force under General “Dick” Taylor is near the city and threatening to take it. General Forrest (CSA) would later say of Taylor: “ He’s the biggest man in the lot. If we’d had more like him, we would have licked the Yankees long ago.”