Civil War Timeline 1862 - Sherman House Museum

January 1–7, 1862

January 1, 1862 Confederate agents Slidell and Mason sail for Halifax en route to England
January 1, 1862 George B. McClellan, General in Chief of the Union Army, continues his inactivity causing President Lincoln more anguish over the slow movement. McClellan is ill and does not answer Lincoln’s telegraphs.
January 1, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson breaks his winter camp and moves his Stonewall Brigade and General William Loring’s 8,500 troops toward Romney in western Virginia. Soon after leaving their Winchester, Virginia area encampments, the temperature falls and the troops suffer severely.
January 3, 1862 Confederate President Davis is upset over the loss of Ship’s Island, Mississippi and its probable effect on the ability of the South to hold New Orleans.
January 3, 1862 Confederates under General Jackson continue a move up the Shenandoah Valley and plan the destruction of the B&O Railroad in western Virginia.
January 4, 1862 Jackson’s troops control the town of Bath, western Virginia.
January 5, 1862 General Jackson’s artillery bombards Union positions around Hancock, Maryland before seeking winter shelter and establishing a new winter camp.
January 6, 1862 General in Chief McClellan is diagnosed as having typhoid fever. President Lincoln ignores radical Republican senators calling for replacement of McClellan.
January 6, 1862 The Union Navy is critically short of manpower and Commodore Andrew H. Foote suggests drafting soldiers. The U.S. Army is reluctant but General Ulysses S. Grant recommends that guardhouse soldiers be moved to help the Navy.
January 7, 1862 General Thomas Jackson remains intent on the capture of Romney, western Virginia, which is the key position controlling the South Branch Valley of the Potomac River. Troops are moved from their temporary winter camp at Hancock, Maryland toward Romney but encounter the Union Army at Blue Gap and are scattered. The Union also takes possession of two Confederate cannons.
January 7, 1862 The Federal gunboat U.S.S. Conestoga returns from a reconnaissance of Confederate Fort Donelson, Tennessee. In a report to Commodore Foote, Donelson is described as well positioned with intrinsic strength and a danger to naval assault.

January 15–21, 1862

January 15, 1862 The poem “Battle Hymn of the Republic” written by Julia Ward Howe is published in the New York Herald Tribune.
January 15, 1862 The U.S. Senate confirms Edwin M. Stanton as the new Secretary of War. Stanton from Ohio replaces Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania.
January 15, 1862 At St. Louis Confederate General Lovell Mansfield confiscates 14 private civilian steamers to augment the defense of the city.
January 16, 1862 Three new Eads (James B. Eads - designer) gunboats are commissioned by the Union. The Carondelet, St. Louis, and Cincinnati join the four existing gunboats to become the force assuring Union control of western waters. The three new gunboats are iron clad while the earlier gunboats had wood hulls and decks with some cladding added.
January 16, 1862 Confederate General George B. Crittenden orders all Confederate troops to move to the south side of the Cumberland River (Kentucky) to avoid a battle with their backs to the river. General Felix K. Zollicoffer ignores the order and when Crittenden arrives with reinforcements, he decides to stay on the north side and engage the Union column at Logan’s Crossroad.
January 17, 1862 General George H. Thomas takes charge of 4,000 troops near Logan’s Crossroads. The nearest Confederate troops are near Mills Springs, about ten miles away on the Cumberland River, and General Thomas expects an attack.
January 17, 1862 Union General Charles F. Smith leads a probe in the direction of Ft. Henry, held by the Confederates on the Tennessee River. The Federal gunboats USS Conestoga and USS Lexington are able to acquire detailed knowledge of the position and formulate a plan for capture of the fort.
January 18, 1862 General George H. Thomas sends reconnaissance parties toward the Cumberland River to assure that the Confederate forces are still on the north side of the river. Thomas learns that General Crittenden is planning to strike the Union camp at dawn. General Thomas moves two brigades of reinforcement troops nearer to Logan’s Crossroads.
January 19, 1862 At daybreak Generals Zollicofer and William H. Carroll attack the Union forces at Logan’s Crossroads. In heavy rain and mud, the 4th Kentucky under Union Colonel Speed S. Fry forces a standoff with units of equal strength. General Zollicoffer is killed by Fry’s troops when he is lost in the fog. The forces disengage and General Thomas follows the Confederate retreat. General Crittenden leads the Confederate troops to transports and escapes back to Nashville late in the evening. This battle is sometimes called the Battle of Mills Springs.
January 20, 1862 Reports of the overwhelming Union victory at Logan’s Creek revives Union sentiment in the region and Kentucky remains neutral. The Union gains control of the Cumberland, an important invasion route into eastern Tennessee.
January 20, 1862 Navy Secretary Gideon Wells splits the Union Gulf Blockading Squadron into two districts; the Eastern and Western Blockading Squadrons. Commodore David G. Farragut commands the Eastern unit and Commander David D. Porter (Farragut’s foster brother) commands the Western Squadron. They plan a campaign against New Orleans.
January 21, 1862 Union forces move on Columbus, Kentucky lead by General John A. McClernand with no engagement.

January 22–29, 1862

January 22, 1862 At Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, the Federal gunboat USS Lexington fires on the Confederate batteries with some return fire.
January 23, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson moves his forces from Romney in western Virginia to Winchester. Confederate General William W. Loring remains in Romney but complains to friends in the Confederate Congress that General Jackson deliberately left his troops in an exposed position only 20 miles from Union lines and asks for a change of orders.
January 23, 1862 General Henry W. Halleck adds strength to martial law in St. Louis. Pro-southern leaning inhabitants that fail to pay an assessment to support pro-Union fugitives now have their property seized.
January 23, 1862 Commodore Andrew H. Foote, short of sailors to man his gunboat squadron, asks Secretary of Navy Gideon Wells to appeal to the War Department to arrange a draft of Army troops to fill the void.
January 26, 1862 General Pierre G. T. Beauregard is moved from the eastern theatre to the west and is under command of General Albert Sidney Johnston. Command in Virginia remains under General Joseph E. Johnston, still at odds with Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
January 26, 1862 A second “stone fleet” is sunk in Charleston Harbor at the mouth of Maffitt’s Channel.
January 27, 1862 Emperor Napoleon III promises continued neutrality but declares that the American conflict infringes on trade relations with France.
January 27, 1862 President Lincoln issues General War Order No.1. This mandates a general offensive along a wide front to be underway no later than February 22nd. Both Army and Navy forces and all commanders are under the order. The order was issued as Lincoln became exasperated with the slow response to verbal orders and lack of initiative on the part of Command Officers. The message sent was also to inform that War Command is now centered in Washington.
January 28, 1862 Confederate Colonel John H. Morgan leads his cavalry against Union forces at Greensburg and Lebanon, Kentucky.
January 28, 1862 Commodore Andrew Foote advises senior general Henry Halleck to begin operations against Fort Henry and Fort Donelson before the water level on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers begins to recede.

January 29 – February 4, 1862

January 29, 1862 Union soldiers begin a manhunt for infamous guerrilla William C. Quantrill around Blue Springs, Missouri.
January 30, 1862 Confederate envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell reach Southampton, England and receive a cordial welcome. (See several Trent Affair notes between November 7, 1861 and December 27, 1861.)
January 30, 1862 At St. Louis General Henry W. Halleck authorizes combined Navy and Army operations against Confederate positions at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Tennessee. General Ulysses S. Grant orders his command into action but recent heavy rain causes the roads to be impassable. All troops are moved by gunboats and barges.
January 30, 1862 Federal gunboat USS Conestoga makes final reconnaissance of the Tennessee River preparing for the movement against Fort Henry.
January 30, 1862 The USS Monitor ironclad, called “a cheese box on a raft” by some onlookers, is launched at Greenpoint, Long Island. Testing begins immediately.
January 31, 1862 Great Britain’s Queen Victoria advises Confederate agents of British displeasure over the Union blockade of southern ports. However, Southern hopes are dashed when the Queen reiterates her government’s neutrality in matters of war.
January 31, 1862 President Lincoln refines his Special War Order No.1 to mandate an advance on Manassas Junction, Virginia by February 22. General George McClellan ignores the order. The President’s original order had been composed and issued on January 27th.
January 31, 1862 Radical Republicans call for General McClellan to attack Southern positions but also to actively free slaves and enlist them in the military. McClellan declines to turn the fight to save the Union into a social crusade to free slaves.
January 31, 1862 The Railways and Telegraph Act, empowering the President to seize control of these Confederate held assets, is passed by Congress.
January 31, 1862 Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of War, orders General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson to move his troops from Winchester back to Romney in western Virginia. (See January 23,1862 when General Jackson moved to Winchester and General Loring’s complaints were reported.) General Jackson, aware of Loring’s violation of the chain of command behind his back, complies with the order and then resigns in anger. President Jefferson Davis refuses to accept the resignation and Jackson remains with the Army.
February 1, 1862 General Henry H. Sibley moves into New Mexico Territory intent on bringing the entire region into Confederate control.
February 2, 1862 General Grant and 17,000 troops depart Cairo, Illinois for a campaign against Fort Henry.
February 2, 1862 The timberclad gunboats USS Lexington, Conestoga, and Tyler, under Lt. Seth L. Phelps, begin a foray down the Tennessee River to destroy the railroad bridge at Danville, Tennessee and then continue downstream as far as water depth allows.
February 3, 1862 General George McClellan and President Lincoln continue to disagree on Union troop movement as well as the strategy to be used. Lincoln favors an overland campaign while McClellan suggests sidestepping Confederate defenses and landing behind the enemy.
February 3, 1862 To stop the Confederates from carrying out the threat of hanging Union Naval personnel in retaliation for the Union treating Confederate captives as pirates, the Union decides to charge captured southern privateers as war prisoners.
February 4, 1862 Confederate Commander at Fort Henry, General Lloyd Tilghman, learns of the large Union expedition floating toward his location and asks for reinforcements.
February 4, 1862 Commodore Andrew H. Foote positions the USS Essex, Corondelet, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Tyler, and Lexington to bombard several targets along the Tennessee River. He also has a close-up look at Fort Henry. One Southerner is killed in the exchanges and several torpedoes (mines) break loose in the swift current but cause no damage to the Union fleet.
February 4, 1862 The Confederate Congress briefly considers utilizing free African Americans in the Army. The remedy to address the shortage of troops in never seriously considered.

February 5–11, 1862

February 5, 1862 Restrictions on the sale of guns, ammunition, and military supplies to the Confederacy are lifted by the British government.
February 5, 1862 Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is printed in the Atlantic Monthly, arranged to the popular tune “John Brown’s Body.”
February 5, 1862 General Charles F. Smith lands Union troops directly opposite Fort Henry at the unfinished Fort Heiman and seizes the fort without contact.
February 6, 1862 In the drive toward Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, General U.S. Grant continues his strategic flanking movement. The fort is situated in low earthwork at river’s edge and the Tennessee River is running full. His 17,000 troops are put ashore two miles below the fort but bog down in mud and proceed slowly. General Tilghman directs most of his 3,400 Confederate garrison to Fort Donelson, ten miles away on the Cumberland River. Little combat takes place but the Union troops detain 38 stragglers and capture six cannons as they pursue the Confederates.
February 6, 1862 General Tilghman retains 17 cannons and 100 artillery troops to mount an “honorable” defense of Fort Henry. The four ironclad and three timber clad gunboats under Commodore Foote open fire on Fort Henry from 1,700 yards and move in to about 600 yards, maintaining constant fire for two hours. The fort’s defenders score 59 hits on Foote’s gunboats and a direct hit on the USS Essex, bursting her boilers. Several naval officers row through the sally port and accept Tilghman’s surrender on the flooded parade ground. Union losses are 11 killed, 31 injured, and five missing. Confederate losses are five killed, six wounded, five missing, and 70 captured.
February 6, 1862 After the fall of Fort Henry, Commodore Foote moves downstream on the Tennessee destroying railroad bridges as far south as Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
February 6, 1862 At Jefferson City, Louisiana, the new and powerful ironclad CSS Louisiana is launched.
February 7, 1862 Federal troops re-occupy Romney in western Virginia and General Loring withdraws to Winchester.
February 7, 1862 Lt. Seth Phelps continues on his move down river on the Tennessee. The USS Conestoga surprises the Confederate steamers Samuel Orr, Appleton Belle, and Lynn Boyd and sets them afire.
February 7, 1862 Hearing news of the fall of Fort Henry, Generals Beauregard, Albert S. Johnston, and William Hardee meet and send untested Generals Gideon Pillow at Clarksville, Tennessee and John B. Floyd at Bowling Green, Kentucky to slow the Union approach to Fort Donelson. Fort Donelson’s garrison is directed to withdraw to Nashville. February 7 & 8, 1862 - The U.S. Army and Navy win control of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Control of Roanoke Island effectively stops Confederate communication with Norfolk, Virginia and Norfolk is eventually abandoned. General Ambrose Burnsides sets up enhanced blockade capability and controls the Albemarle Sound.
February 8, 1862 President Davis reacts to the loss of Roanoke Island and Fort Henry, and a sense of gloom overtakes Richmond. Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin, overall theatre commander Benjamin Huger, and local commander Henry A. Wise are investigated for incompetence and questionable behavior.
February 9, 1862 General Gideon Pillow becomes commander of Fort Donelson, replacing Generals Bushrod J. Johnson and Simon Buckner.
February 10, 1862 Commodore Foote moves to Cairo, Illinois to get emergency repair of his damaged gunboats and plans his move to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee. Lt. Seth L. Phelps concludes his move downstream and arrives back at Fort Donelson.
February 10, 1862 Union General Samuel R. Curtis and his 12,000 man Army of the Southwest leaves Rolla, Missouri to attack General Sterling Price and his 8,000 man Missouri Homeguard. This move is to drive Price west and into Arkansas to keep him from interfering with the Union thrust down the Mississippi.
February 11, 1862 The northern railroads and captured southern rails are all placed under the control of the United States Military Railroads, established by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The Military Railroad achieved safety and efficiency never rivaled in the south.
February 11, 1862 Union Generals McClernand and Charles Smith march 15,000 men from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson through heavy rain. Confederate General Pillow is strengthened by the arrival of General John B. Floyd and 21,000 Confederates.

February 12–18, 1862

February 12, 1862 At Roanoke Island, General Ambrose E. Burnside moves to expand his occupation and expands his perimeter all the way to Edenton, North Carolina.
February 12, 1862 General Grant moves 15,000 Union troops ten miles from Fort Henry on the Cumberland River to Fort Donelson on the Tennessee. Fort Donelson is now defended by over 23,000 Confederates of General John B. Floyd’s command. A siege operation is established with Union Generals John A. McClernand and Charles F. Smith supported by the USS Carondelet gunboat.
February 13, 1862 General McClernand disobeys instructions to force no general confrontation at Fort Donelson and probes deeply into the Confederate defensive line. He is repulsed with losses when his troops storm a battery at the center of the Southern line.
February 13, 1862 As Union forces approach Bowling Green, Kentucky, General William J. Hardee evacuates his Southern forces.
February 14, 1862 President Lincoln announces a policy of general amnesty and pardons all political prisoners who consent to a loyalty oath.
February 14, 1862 Bowling Green, Kentucky is occupied by Union troops commanded by General Ormsby M. Mitchel.
February 14, 1862 Defenders of Fort Donelson conclude their position is hopeless. Generals John B. Floyd and Gideon Pillow plan to attempt a break to safety through Union lines for the next day. At 3:00 PM, Commodore Foote opens fire on the fort from 400 yards but the Confederate defenders return fire from an elevated bluff. Three of the four ironclads in Foote’s gunboat squadron are damaged and Foote himself is severely wounded.
February 14, 1862 The ironclad USS Galena is launched at Mystic, Connecticut but is still experimental.
February 15, 1862 At daybreak, the Confederate defenders at Fort Donelson attack McClernand’s division with great success. The captured Union troops attempt to surrender but Generals Pillow and Floyd refuse to take prisoners and flee by ferry to safety across the Tennessee River with about 5,000 Confederates. That night Federal reinforcements swell the troop force to over 27,000.
February 16, 1862 Fort Donelson is surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. When Generals Pillow and Floyd fled, General Buckner, an old acquaintance of Grant, was left in charge of Fort Donelson. When he asked Grant for surrender terms, Grant replied, "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works.’ Grant is celebrated in the Northern Press as Unconditional Surrender Grant.
February 17, 1862 U. S. Grant is promoted to major general of volunteers, U.S. Army.
February 17, 1862 The U.S. Senate passes a resolution to create a Medal of Honor.
February 17, 1862 Two Confederate Regiments advancing toward Fort Donelson are captured by Federal forces.
February 17, 1862 Commodore Foote’s gunboat squadron moves toward Confederate-held Clarksville, Tennessee.
February 18, 1862 The Confederate Congress convenes in Richmond. This is the first ever meeting of officials elected to represent the Southern States. \

February 19–25, 1862

February 19, 1862 The Confederate Congress meeting at Richmond orders the release of 2,000 Federal Troops.
February 19, 1862 Federal General Charles F. Smith occupies Clarksville, Tennessee and Fort Defiance. Commodore Andrew Foote assists and the Confederates evacuate as Foote’s squadron approaches. Foote urges General Smith to move on Nashville while the Cumberland River is still high.
February 19, 1862 The USS Monitor, under testing in New York Harbor, encounters propulsion defects.
February 19, 1862 The USS Delaware and USS Commodore Perry move down the Chowan River in North Carolina, encounter resistance at Winston, and withdraw.
February 20, 1862 At the White House, President Abraham Lincoln’s 11-year old son William Wallace (“Willie”) dies of typhoid fever.
February 20, 1862 The Confederate Congress authorizes the evacuation of troops from Columbus, Kentucky with Forts Henry and Donelson both lost.
February 20, 1862 Tennessee Governor Isham Harris moves the Confederate State Capitol to Memphis from Nashville as Nashville is threatened by Union forces.
February 20, 1862 General John Wool, Union force commander at Ft. Monroe, receives intelligence that the ironclad CSS Virginia is being deployed against his position.
February 20, 1862 General Albert Sidney Johnston completes the move of Confederate forces to Murfreesboro, Tennessee and combines the scattered forces arriving from Nashville.
February 21, 1862 The Committee on the Conduct of the War removes Colonel Charles P. Stone from command and arrests him for betraying troops in the defeat of the Union at Ball’s Bluff in October 1861. He remains imprisoned for 189 days and becomes an example of the power of the Committee. Stone is eventually pardoned and released.
February 21, 1862 In New York City convicted slave trader Nathaniel Gordon is hanged, the first punished for this outlawed practice.
February 22, 1862 President Jefferson Davis becomes the first elected official of the Confederate States of America. He blames the North for the hostilities and condemns the North’s stand on states rights as a violation of the Constitution in his acceptance speech. President Davis and his Vice President Alexander Stevens were formerly provisional officers.
February 22, 1862 General Don C. Buell moves the Army of Ohio from Bowling Green, Kentucky toward Nashville.
February 23, 1862 President Lincoln appoints U.S. Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee as Military Governor of pro-Union eastern Tennessee.
February 23, 1862 New commander of the Department of the Gulf for the Union is General Benjamin Butler.
February 23, 1862 Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest evacuate ahead of The Army of Ohio advance on Nashville. The North holds Nashville throughout the war.
February 23, 1862 Harper’s Ferry, Virginia is reoccupied by the Union and General Nathaniel P. Banks.
February 24, 1862 The CSS Virginia ironclad is ordered to move against Union naval forces off Hampton Roads by the Confederate secretary of the navy, Stephen R. Mallory. Captain Franklin Buchanan is the commander.
February 24, 1862 Confederates are victorious at the Battle of Valverde, New Mexico thanks to Texas Troops led by General Henry H. Sibley.
February 24, 1862 As President Lincoln’s Cabinet meeting ends, newly appointed Department of The Gulf Commander General Benjamin Butler said, “Goodbye, Mr. President. We shall take New Orleans, or you will never see me again.”
February 25, 1862 President Lincoln approves the Legal Tender Act, the first government sponsored paper money system. The new “greenbacks” are intended for wartime use to expedite payment of Treasury Department bills. There are 400 million in circulation by war’s end.
February 25, 1862 The War Department is authorized to commandeer all commercial telegraph lines for military use, if needed.
February 25, 1862 The new Union ironclad USS Monitor is commissioned at Long Island, Lt. John L. Wooden, Commanding. The revolutionary design features a single rotating turret with two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore cannons, and the body of the ship submerged underwater.

February 26 – March 3, 1862

February 26, 1862 Ambrose P. Hill becomes a brigadier general, CSA.
February 27, 1862 Confederate President Davis suspends writs of habeas corpus as a wartime expedient. Lincoln had done the same thing in April 1861 around Washington and extended the suspension up the East Coast to Maine in October 1861.
February 27, 1862 Martial Law is declared in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia as Union forces approach.
February 27, 1862 Departure of the USS Monitor is delayed due to shortage of ammunition and steering failure. In the South, the CSS Monitor is delayed by powder shortages.
February 28, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston is advised by President Jefferson Davis to formulate contingency plans for safe troop and material evacuation from Virginia.
February 28, 1862 At Harper’s Ferry, Union forces fail to cross the Potomac and to move against Confederate troops as planned. They failed because pontoon boats were too wide to fit through canal locks and therefore could not be positioned for the crossing.
February 28, 1862 Federal troops occupy Charleston in western Virginia.
February 28, 1862 Union General John Pope moves the Army of the Mississippi down river toward New Madrid where 7,500 Confederate Troops are stationed. The Confederate force is commanded by General John P. McCown and has 19 heavy guns mounted plus a flotilla of gunboats.
February 28, 1862 Confederate forces capture Tucson in the New Mexico Territory. Locals quickly elect a delegation to attend the Confederate Congress meeting in Richmond.
March 1, 1862 Confederate General John H. Winder declares Martial Law in Richmond.
March 1, 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant is ordered by General Halleck, commanding the Department of the West, to cross the Tennessee River and move against Eastport, Mississippi.
March 1, 1862 General P.G.T. Beauregard begins to form a Confederate line from Columbus, Kentucky, past Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River and Fort Pillow on the Tennessee River, all the way to Corinth, Mississippi. At the same time, General Albert Sidney Johnston begins to move from Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Corinth, Mississippi.
March 1, 1862 Commodore Foote directs the USS Lexington and the USS Tyler to engage Confederate batteries at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee. Commodore Foote forbids any naval personnel from going ashore after some casualties occur as sailors and army sharpshooters land to scout the position.
March 1, 1862 The USS Mount Vernon captures the British Queen, a British blockade-runner off Wilmington, North Carolina.
March 2, 1862 General Leonidas Polk moves 140 cannons from the strong Confederate position at Columbus, Kentucky to New Madrid, Missouri and Island No. 10, across the Mississippi River. The Confederate line that at one time was as far east as the Cumberland Gap and reached to the Mississippi River has now moved south.
March 3, 1862 U.S. Assistant Adj. General N. H. McLean issues a warning to St. Louis that any members of Confederate guerrilla bands “will be hung as robbers and murderers.”
March 3, 1862 John Bell Hood is appointed brigadier general, CSA.
March 3, 1862 General Robert E. Lee is recalled from Charleston, South Carolina to Richmond, Virginia to act as an advisor to President Jefferson Davis.
March 3, 1862 General Henry Halleck orders General Ulysses S. Grant held at Fort Henry, Tennessee under accusation of sloppy administration.
March 3, 1862 General Pope and 18,000 Union Army of the Mississippi soldiers begin a siege operation against New Madrid, Missouri.

March 5–11, 1862

March 5, 1862 Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston masses his forces at Corinth, Mississippi to stop any Union thrust south on the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River flows north into the Ohio so south is often referred to as “up-river” in Civil War histories.
March 5, 1862 General P.G.T. Beauregard takes charge of the new Confederate Army of the Mississippi, stationed at Jackson, Tennessee.
March 5, 1862 Savannah, Tennessee, located northeast of Corinth, Mississippi, becomes General Charles F. Smith’s headquarters for Union forces.
March 5, 1862 Federal General Nathaniel P. Banks moves from Harper’s Ferry in western Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley and encounters skirmishers at Bunker Hill and Pohick Church.
March 6, 1862 President Lincoln asks Congress to compensate States that willingly abolish slavery. State legislatures reject the idea.
March 6, 1862 Sterling Price is appointed Major General, C.S.A.
March 6, 1862 Following several delays, General George B. McClellan moves the Army of the Potomac southward against Southern troops at Manassas, Virginia. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston falls back to Leesburg, Virginia.
March 6, 1862 General Samuel R. Curtis and 10,500 Union troops occupy positions around Pea Ridge and Elkhorn Tavern, Arkansas. C.S.A. General Earl Van Dorn moves to flank the Union Army and cut them off from the Missouri River escape. Three Cherokee regiments under General Albert Pike and Stand Watie join Van Dorn.
March 7, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston continues to move away from Manassas Junction and the Army of the Potomac, moving south to Fredericksburg, Virginia.
March 7, 1862 Colonel Turner Ashby’s Cavalry skirmish with Union forces at Winchester, Virginia.
March 7, 1862 General Earl Van Dorn’s flanking movement at Pea Ridge becomes complicated and Texas General Ben McCulloch and second in command General James M. McIntosh are both killed. After four engagements, the line has moved less than 800 feet by nightfall.
March 8, 1862 General War Order #2 is issued by President Lincoln, organizing the Army of the Potomac into four corps with one corp left to defend Washington, D.C.
March 8, 1862 Union forces occupy Leesburg, Virginia.
March 8, 1862 In Tennessee, Colonel John H. Morgan raids Nashville’s outskirts while General John B. Floyd forces Union troops to leave Chattanooga and Knoxville.
March 8, 1862 General Van Dorn orders General Franz Sigel to attack Union positions believing General Curtis is low on artillery ammunition. General Van Dorn’s Army is defeated with huge losses in casualties and prisoners. This is the first major victory for the Union in the far West.
March 8, 1862 The USS Monitor arrives off Hampton Roads after a perilous voyage from New York.
March 8, 1862 The CSS Virginia ironclad ram disables the sloop USS Cumberland and the frigate USS Congress, and then burns them. The USS Minnesota grounds itself to avoid an attack. Wooden warships fall into disfavor.
March 9, 1862 General McClellan cannot maintain contact with the southern army and moves back to Alexandria, Virginia. General Johnston moves further south, behind the Rappahannock.
March 9, 1862 Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones assumes command of the CSS Virginia ironclad due to Captain Franklin Buchanan’s wounds caused by shore gunfire during yesterday’s encounters. As the CSS Virginia leaves Norfolk to destroy theUSS Minnesota, the USS Monitor sails directly in its path. After a lengthy dual in front of shoreline spectators, the inconclusive confrontation ends. USS Monitor Lieutenant John L. Worden is injured when the pilothouse is hit and a wood splinter hits his eye.
March 10, 1862 President Lincoln pays a bedside visit to Lieutenant John L. Worden of the USS Monitor.
March 10, 1862 Commodore David G. Farragut begins working his deep draft warships over the sandbars into the Mississippi River below New Orleans.

March 11–17, 1862

March 11, 1862 President Lincoln issues War Order #3, removing General George B. McClellan as General in Chief. McClellan is retained as commander of the Army of the Potomac but all other commanders report directly to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
March 11, 1862 As the Departments of the Ohio, the Kansas, and the Missouri become the Department of the Mississippi, General Halleck is appointed commander of all Union forces in the West.
March 11, 1862 President Davis rejects the reports of Generals John B. Floyd and Gideon Pillow concerning the loss of Forts Henry and Donelson and relieves them of command.
March 11, 1862 The Dept. of Western Virginia is moved to General Fremont’s Mountain Division.
March 11, 1862 Troops from the USS Wabash capture and occupy St. Augustine, Florida. At Pensacola Confederates burn two of their gunboats fearing a Union thrust.
March 12, 1862 General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson withdraws from western Virginia to move up the Shenandoah Valley. Federal troops occupy Winchester, Virginia.
March 12, 1862 At New Madrid, Missouri on the Mississippi River, General John Pope deploys heavy artillery to strengthen his siege.
March 13, 1862 General McClellan announces the Peninsula Campaign. Abandoning the overland move directly to Richmond, the Army of the Potomac is to be shipped to the mouth of the York and James Rivers and approach Richmond from the south. President Lincoln approves the plan but warns “at all events, move such Army at once in pursuit of the enemy.”
March 13, 1862 General Ambrose Burnside lands 12,000 Union troops supported by 13 gunboats at Slocum’s Creek on the Neuse River in North Carolina. New Bern, North Carolina, an important railhead, is the objective.
March 13, 1862 General Robert E. Lee becomes war advisor to Confederate President Davis.
March 13, 1862 New Madrid, Missouri falls to General Pope with the Confederates moving to Island #10, abandoning huge piles of supplies.
March 13, 1862 General William T. Sherman probes from Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River into the land toward Corinth, Mississippi.
March 13, 1862 The Union creates the Department of the South, which includes South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
March 14, 1862 New Bern, North Carolina, the second largest city in North Carolina is captured by General Burnside and is occupied throughout the remainder of the war.
March 14, 1862 General Stephen Hurlbut’s division joins General Sherman’s Army that is deployed at Pittsburg Landing, near Shiloh Church.
March 14, 1862 Commodore Andrew Foote moves six gunboats from Cairo, Illinois toward Island #10.
March 15, 1862 Commodore Foote bombards Island #10 with his six gunboats and 121 mortars.
March 16, 1862 Colonel John H. Morgan leads a Confederate raid at Gallatin, Tennessee.
March 16, 1862 General Pope and Commodore Foote continue operations against Confederate held Island #10. This obstacle to Mississippi River travel remains strong.
March 17, 1862 The 105,000 man Army of the Potomac leaves Alexandria, Virginia for Fort Monroe and the York and James Rivers aboard transports. General McClellan plans to outflank the Confederate Army defending Richmond.
March 17, 1862 Commodore Foote continues the bombardment of Island #10 with both the USS Benton and the USS Cincinnati receiving damage when a gun on the USS St. Louis bursts, killing several sailors.
March 17, 1862 The Union Navy Department is embarrassed when the CSS Nashville sails past Federal blockading ships at Beaufort, North Carolina. Navy Assistant Secretary Gustavus V. Fox called the incident “a Bull Run for the Navy.”

March 18–24, 1862

March 18, 1862 Robert M.T. Hunter, former Secretary of State for the Confederate Government, is elected to the Confederate Senate. President Davis appoints Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin his new Secretary of State.
March 18, 1862 Ambrose Burnside is promoted to Major General, U.S. Army.
March 18, 1862 General Albert S. Johnston leads the Confederate advance guard into Corinth, Mississippi, arriving from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
March 19, 1862 Commodore Andrew H. Foote continues to utilize his gunboat squadron to assail Island #10 in the Mississippi River. Confederate resistance remains strong.
March 20, 1862 In anticipation of operation against New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler is moved to command the Department of the Gulf Coast at Ship Island, Miss.
March 20, 1862 General Ambrose Burnside moves a large force from their base at New Bern, North Carolina on the Neuse River to Washington, N.C. on Pamlico Sound.
March 20, 1862 General Oliver O. Howard leads a small Federal reconnaissance force to Manassas Junction, Virginia.
March 20, 1862 To strengthen the defense around Washington, D.C., Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks is ordered out of the Shenandoah Valley, moving his V Corps east.
March 21, 1862 CSA Cavalry Commander Colonel Turner Ashby informs General Thomas J. Jackson of General Bank’s move out of the Shenandoah. General Jackson moves toward Kerntown to try to lure the V Corps back to the valley. The Confederate fear is that Banks is moving in support of the Army of the Potomac moving on Richmond.
March 21, 1862 A Union force at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee is engaged in a skirmish with General Edmund Kirby-Smith.
March 21, 1862 The U.S. Army announces the promotions of Samuel R. Curtis, William S. Rosecrans, and Lew Wallace, now Major Generals.
March 22, 1862 More promotions in the north; Don C. Buell, John Pope, and Franz Sigel are promoted to Major General.
March 22, 1862 At New Orleans, General Mansfield Lovell, Commanding Confederate Officer reports his six steamers are prepared to defend the city. Inhabitants of New Orleans are dismayed by the movement of most Confederate naval assets upriver.
March 22, 1862 Kerntown, western Virginia is the scene of skirmishing between CSA Cavalry Colonel Turner Ashby and Union forces under James Shield. Ashby reports to General Thomas J. Jackson that his strength is about equal to the Federals but Shield actually outnumbers him about two to one with many hidden in thick undergrowth.
March 22, 1862 Confederate guerrillas under William C. Quantrill skirmish with the 2nd Kansas Cavalry near Independence, Missouri.
March 22, 1862 The first English vessel built expressly for the Confederate Navy through the clandestine efforts of agent James D. Bulloch departs Liverpool for Nassau. The steamer is marked Oreto but will be renamed the CSS Florida and outfitted with four seven-inch guns prior to delivery.
March 23, 1862 George W. Randolph is appointed Secretary of War by Confederate President Davis.
March 23, 1862 To bypass Confederate defensive works on Island #10 on the Mississippi River, Union soldiers begin a 12-mile long, 50-foot wide canal. Union gunboats could then pass without direct contact with the enemy.
March 23, 1862 The battle of Kerntown, Virginia (south of Winchester) takes place. General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson force marches his 4,500 man 41 miles in two days and attacks Gen. James Shield’s 9000 Union troops. Jackson is initially successful and drives the Federal Troops back but the battle is a tactical defeat of the Confederate Army. The implications are more lasting. Union authorities believed Jackson would not have attacked unless he expected to be reinforced and Kerntown was just one step on Jackson’s march to Washington. President Lincoln held McDowell’s I Corps at Washington and two Divisions of Gen. Nathaniel Bank’s forces at Harper Ferry. These forces are therefore not available to reinforce the Army of the Potomac moving in the Peninsula Campaign toward Richmond.
March 24, 1862 General Jackson starts his highly successful Shenandoah Campaign.
March 24, 1862 General Albert Sidney Johnston concentrates his Confederate forces at Corinth, Mississippi and General Ulysses S. Grant consolidates his forces at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, 20 miles north of Corinth.
March 24, 1862 In Cincinnati, Ohio, radical abolitionist Wendell Phillips is pelted with eggs and stones due to the unpopularity of emancipation.

March 25–31, 1862

March 25, 1862 General Henry W. Halleck learns the Confederates are building a large ironclad (CSS Arkansas) at Memphis. He informs Commodore Andrew H. Foote.
March 25, 1862 A Confederate force in La Glorietta Pass near Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory is approached by troops led by Major John Chivington of the 1st Colorado Volunteers.
March 26, 1862 In an early morning raid, the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry attacks Confederate forces commanded by Major Charles L. Pryor, capturing 30 members of the advanced guard. Texas troops suffer 16 dead, 30 wounded, and 79 missing. Federal losses are 19 killed, five wounded, and three missing in an all day battle.
March 26, 1862 CSA General John H. Winder becomes commander of the Department of Henrico which includes Petersburg, Virginia.
March 27, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston is ordered to Yorktown, Virginia to reinforce the Confederate Army of the Peninsula, commanded by Gen. John B. Magruder.
March 27, 1862 Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton announces plans to build several steam rams at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio. These new vessels are designed to counter the large ironclad under construction at Memphis.
March 28, 1862 Union Troops under command of General Oliver O. Howard occupy Shipping Point, Virginia and move to sever the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.
March 28, 1862 The strategic Cumberland Pass is occupied by Union General Washington Morgan’s 7th Division. The pass connects Tennessee, Kentucky and western Virginia.
March 28, 1862 Near Glorietta Pass, New Mexico Territory, Union reinforcements arrive and attack the Confederate Texans at Apache Pass. Union troops are sent around the pass to close on the rear. The complete Southern baggage train with 90 wagons and 800 draft animals is discovered during this flanking movement and destroyed. General Henry H. Selby is forced back to Texas and this marks the end of Confederate activity in the New Mexico Territory.
March 28, 1862 On the St. John’s River in Florida, the Union locates and raises the racing yacht America that had been scuttled by southern sympathizers. The vessel becomes part of the U.S. Navy.
March 29, 1862 General John C. Fremont takes command of the Mountain Department, replacing General William S. Rosecrans.
March 29, 1862 General Albert Sidney Johnston and his Army of the Mississippi joins General Pierre G.T. Beauregard and his Army of Kentucky at Corinth, Mississippi. General Johnston commands with Beauregard as second in command. Division commanders are Generals Leonidas Polk, Braxton Bragg, William Hardee, and George Crittenden.
March 31, 1862 President Lincoln orders General McClellan to send another Division from the Army of the Potomac to defend Washington, D.C.
March 31, 1862 Confederate General John P. McCown is relieved for his premature abandonment of New Madrid Bend and Island #10, Missouri on March 13. General William Mackall takes command.

April 1–7, 1862

April 1, 1862 General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac is transferred from Alexandria, Virginia to Fortress Monroe, Virginia.
April 1, 1862 Screened by cavalry under Colonel Ashby Turner, Confederate forces move up (south) the Shenandoah, led by General Thomas Jackson.
April 1, 1862 Confederate reconnaissance of the Federal position at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee suggests that General Grant has split his force.
April 1, 1862 The Federal gunboat USS St. Louis leads an expedition against Fort #1, located above Island #10 on the Mississippi. Fort #1 is captured and guns are spiked. The fleet withdraws, unmolested.
April 2, 1862 Confederate spy Rose Greenhow is expelled from Washington, D.C.
April 2, 1862 General George McClellan and his staff arrive at Fortress Monroe and plan for the move north toward Yorktown, Virginia.
April 2, 1862 The Army of the Ohio under Don C. Buell departs Nashville for Pittsburg Landing to join General U.S. Grant’s forces. Confederate General Beauregard plans a complex wave attack, likely to cause mass confusion in battle. General Albert Sidney Johnston strikes preemptively to prevent the Federal forces from combining in overwhelming strength.
April 3, 1862 Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia, by order of the U.S. Senate.
April 3, 1862 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, encouraged by events so far, orders all recruiting offices in the north closed.
April 3, 1862 President Lincoln, angered by General McClellan’s failure to assign a larger defensive force around Washington D.C., calls for a full Army Corps to be assigned.
April 3, 1862 President Lincoln orders offensive operations to begin against Richmond, Virginia.
April 3, 1862 General McClellan completes final preparations for his massive Army of the Potomac to move into combat. His force numbers 112,000 men.
April 3, 1862 General Albert S. Johnston leaves Corinth, Mississippi and marches toward Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The driving rain and poor marching conditions cause delays and General Johnston believes he has lost the element of surprise.
April 4, 1862 New Union Armies are organized as the Department of the Rappahannock (I Corps) under General Irvin McDowell and the Department of the Shenandoah (V corps) under General Nathaniel P. Banks.
April 4, 1862 General McClellan gets his well-trained Army underway toward Yorktown. President Lincoln is encouraged that McClellan is finally moving.
April 4, 1862 General Albert S. Johnston continues his weather impeded march toward Pittsburg Landing but the Union Army does not suspect any movement in the area.
April 4, 1862 A Union Squadron with the USS J.P. Jackson, New London, and Hatteras lands 1,200 sailors and marines at Pass Christian, Mississippi. The CSS Pamlico and Oregon oppose the movement but then withdraw.
April 4, 1862 In rain and darkness, Commander Henry Walke on the USS Corondelet that is stacked with cordwood to protect its boilers, moves past the Confederate Batteries on Island #10. The Southerners are now cut off from reinforcements from downstream and Union General John Pope can safely move across the Mississippi River.
April 5, 1862 The Army of the Potomac, with overwhelming forces, begins to move up the Peninsula toward Yorktown. Confederate General John B. Magruder with only 15,000 troops uses ruses such as “Quaker Guns” and march/counter march tactics to give the impression of greater numbers. General McClellan falls for these tactics and delays his movement for more than a month.
April 5, 1862 General Albert Sidney Johnston defies General Beauregard’s suggestion of waiting for a larger force at Pittsburg Landing. General Johnston is credited with saying; “I would fight them if they were a million.” Generals Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman remain unaware of the pending encounter.
April 6, 1862 The Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) takes place. General Grant is seven miles away at Savannah, Tennessee as the battle starts. General Sherman is on-site Commander. Some historical highlights include General Albert Sidney’s death, the Hornets Nest, the Peach Orchard, General Lew Wallace and his 12,000 troops “forced marched” from Crump’s Landing seven miles away, the overnight arrival of General Don Buell’s Army of the Ohio, and the heavy fire from the USS Tyler and USS Lexington on the Tennessee River. (Suggest you read the history of this significant battle for details.)
April 6, 1862 The USS Carondelet moves down the Mississippi from New Madrid, spiked the Confederate shore battery at Tipton and generally controls the lower Mississippi.

April 7–14, 1862

April 7, 1862 The struggle at Shiloh resumes as the reinforced Union pushes the Confederate forces back across the Union campsite of two nights ago. Losses in killed, wounded, and captured were a shock to both sides. The Confederate leaders were staking the entire West on the campaign at Shiloh and never regained strength in the area.
April 7, 1862 Great Britain and the U.S. Government enter an agreement to aggressively suppress slave trade.
April 7, 1862 The Federal ironclads USS Pensacola and Mississippi enter the Mississippi River over the sandbars at the Passes.
April 7, 1862 On the Mississippi River, the Federal gunboat USS Pittsburgh passes Island #10 and joins the USS Carondelet. Commodore Andrew Foote receives the thanks of Congress as his squadron can now cover General Pope’s move to the Tennessee side of the river, where General Pope plans to invade Island #10.
April 8, 1862 As pro-Union demonstrations continue in east Tennessee, President Jefferson Davis declares Martial Law in that area.
April 8, 1862 The Confederate garrison on Island #10, commanded by General William W. Mackall is surrendered. In addition to 4,500 men, 109 heavy cannons, four steamers, and large quantities of military supplies are taken. The Union now controls the Mississippi as far south as Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
April 8, 1862 General Pope receives the thanks of President Lincoln for the victory at Island #10 and is promoted to command the Army of Virginia in the East.
April 8, 1862 At Shiloh, General Sherman pursues the Confederate forces but the Confederate rear guard commanded by General Nathan B. Forrest stops the Union force.
April 8, 1862 More Federal ships cross the sandbars at the Passes and join the vessels earlier assembled. Commodore David G. Farragut has 24 warships with 200 large caliber guns plus 19 mortar schooners under Commander David D. Porter in his fleet. Next points of resistance on the way to New Orleans are Forts Jackson and St. Philip. New Orleans is some 80 miles away.
April 9, 1862 President Lincoln, agitated by General McClellan’s continuing lack of movement, meets with his cabinet. The President then suggests several lines of attack. He tells General McClellan that his lack of movement “is but the story of Manassas repeated” and closes his telegraph message to McClellan saying, “But you must act.”
April 10, 1862 A joint congressional resolution to gradually emancipate black slaves is signed by President Lincoln. This move is primarily to keep Border States neutral and offers aid to the states for voluntary compliance.
April 10, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston is appointed to lead the Confederate forces in the Peninsula District of Virginia. Johnston has 34,000 troops and believes that he is facing an estimated 100,000 northern army.
April 10, 1862 At Savannah, Georgia, Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island is surrounded by Union artillery placements. A command to surrender the fort is answered with “I am here to defend this fort, not to surrender it,” from Colonel Charles Olmstead. Captain Quincy A. Gilmore begins shelling at 8:15 A.M. and reduces the fort throughout the day.
April 11, 1862 The U.S. House of Representatives vote 93-39 to include the District of Columbia in the gradual abolishment of slavery.
April 11, 1862 A detachment from the USS Wabash joins General David Hunter, overall commander of the operation against Fort Pulaski, in the capture of the fort. This removes a major port used by the southern blockading force.
April 11, 1862 General Henry W. Halleck removes General Grant from overall command at Pittsburg Landing. General Grant retains command of the District of West Tennessee and General George H. Thomas assumes command of the Army of the Tennessee.
April 11, 1862 The repaired CSS Virginia ironclad returns to Hampton Roads and fails to bring on a second dual with the USS Monitor.
April 12, 1862 Confederate troop strength in the Peninsula grows with the addition of three divisions. General John B. Magruder’s forces at Yorktown, now under General Johnston’s overall command, are estimated to be about half as large as the Army of the Potomac.
April 12, 1862 The Confederate locomotive “General” and three freight cars are stolen from the water/wood supply stop at Big Shanty, Georgia by Major James J. Andrews and 22 Union volunteers. The “General” steams north toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Union crew destroys track and bridges along the route. They have little success due to rain and the Confederate chase. After 90 miles, out of steam, the “General” is abandoned. Andrews and his men flee to the woods but only eight escaped. Andrews and seven others are executed as spies and the rest are eventually exchanged. This episode became known as the “Great Locomotive Chase.”
April 12, 1862 Navy Secretary Gideon Wells urges President Lincoln to forbid export of anthracite coal. The blockade running ships of the Confederacy captured some of the outbound coal and used this nearly clean-burning fuel to power their ship, thereby being harder to detect than smoke belching steamers.
April 13, 1862 At Fort Pulaski in Savannah harbor, General David Hunter declares the area free of slavery and begins to free all slaves in the area of his control.
April 13, 1862 A coastal party begins to map the approaches to Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans.
April 13, 1862 Federal gunboats USS Tyler and Lexington transfer Union troops from Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee to Chickasaw, Alabama where a bridge of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad is destroyed.
April 14, 1862 A joint attack by the Union army and navy captures Newbern, North Carolina. The area remains under Union control the rest of the war.
April 14, 1862 Commodore Foote begins bombarding Fort Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River. This fort is 60 miles south of Island #10 and north of Memphis.
April 14, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston meets with Confederate superiors at a high-level meeting in Richmond. General Johnston pleads for abandonment of the Peninsula position at Yorktown due to the presence of a newly estimated 112,000 Union troops. President Davis and advisor General Robert E. Lee turn down the request since abandonment of Yorktown would also cost the loss of Norfolk and its naval facility.

April 15–21, 1862

April 15, 1862 In Richmond, President Jefferson Davis orders General Joseph E. Johnston to move his army to Yorktown on the Virginia Peninsula and reinforce General Magruder. Johnston is disgruntled but prepares to march south (see the final entry last week- April 14,1862).
April 16, 1862 A bill outlawing slave ownership in the District of Columbia is signed by President Lincoln. Compensation for slaves freed is $300.00 per slave. Slaves escaping from owners loyal to the Union are still to be returned to the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law.
April 16, 1862 President Davis reacts to the approach of the Union Army close to Richmond by calling for a three-year conscription of all men age 18-35 into the Confederate Army. This is the first conscription legislation in U.S. history.
April 16, 1862 Union General William F. Smith probes the Confederate position at Dam #1 on the Warwick River southwest of Yorktown on the Virginia Peninsula then attacks Burnt Chimneys and is repelled. General McClellan decides to erect siege works along the Warwick River defensive line.
April 16, 1862 Seventeen ships of the Western Blockading Force (Commodore Farragut) are positioned below Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, Louisiana on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. The water is running high and Farragut’s fleet passes over the defensive blocks placed in the river by the Confederates. The two forts mount over 90 cannons and have the “Mosquito Squadron” of small warships commanded by Captain George Hollis ready to help defend the positions.
April 17, 1862 Fredericksburg and Falmouth, Virginia are occupied by Union troops commanded by General Irvin McDowell.
April 17, 1862 Newly arrived reinforcements join General Joseph E. Johnston’s army. The total force is now about 53,000, half the size of the Union force at Yorktown on the Warwick River line.
April 17, 1862 Union General Nathaniel Banks’ troops occupy Mount Jackson in western Virginia. General Thomas J. Jackson is forced to continue withdrawing before them.
April 18, 1862 Commodore Farragut directs Commander David D. Porter to reduce Forts Jackson and St. Philips. Twenty mortar barges are assigned to bombard the positions using 200-pound mortar shells. The bombardment continues over the next five days.
April 19, 1862 Artillery fire from Fort Jackson sinks the Federal mortar barge USS Marie J. Carlton.
April 19, 1862 Federal forces remove chain obstructions across the Mississippi River at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the Union fleet slowly begins to move north toward New Orleans.
April 20, 1862 General Irvin McDowell confers with President Lincoln at Aquia Creek, Virginia and accompanies the president back to Washington, D.C.
April 20, 1862 General Edward Johnson moves his Confederate units eastward from Shenandoah Mountain in western Virginia under pressure from a larger Union force under General John C. Fremont.
April 21, 1862 In Richmond, the Confederate Congress creates the first guerrilla forces by passing the Partisan Ranger Act. They then promptly adjourn as the Union Army moves even closer to Richmond.
April 21, 1862 In east Tennessee, the Brownlow family and other northern sympathizers are evicted from the area.
April 21, 1862 With Island #10 securely in Union hands, General John Pope moves his forces to the Tennessee side of the Mississippi River.

April 22–28, 1862

April 22, 1862 Herman Haupt, an engineer/inventor/railroad expert, is appointed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to serve as chief of construction and transportation for the U.S. Military. Transportation and traffic movement became much more efficient in the north.
April 22, 1862 Union forces continue to occupy the Shenandoah Valley, now moving into Harrisonburg, Virginia.
April 22, 1862 The division commanded by General William B. Franklin arrives at Fortress Monroe, Virginia to reinforce the Army of the Potomac.
April 22, 1862 General Nathaniel P. Banks occupies Luray in western Virginia.
April 23, 1862 Near Elizabeth, North Carolina, the U.S. Navy sinks a schooner at the mouth of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. Another useful waterway is closed to the South.
April 23, 1862 Impatient with the progress of the mortar bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans, Commodore David Farragut decides to run his entire fleet past the fortifications at night.
April 24, 1862 The CSS Nashville successfully runs the Union Blockade at Wilmington, North Carolina and delivers 60,000 stands of arms and 40 tons of gunpowder.
April 24, 1862 Commodore Farragut runs his fleet of 17 vessels past the last defensive position on the southern Mississippi below New Orleans. Commodore Farragut’s Flagship, the USS Hartford, is damaged but continues while one vessel is sunk. Commander John K. Mitchell of the Southern squadron loses seven steamers and gunboats, but the biggest loss is the CSS Manassas, an ironclad ram that is run ashore and burned. The fate of New Orleans is decided.
April 25, 1862 George H. Thomas is promoted to Major General, U.S. Army.
April 25, 1862 Fort Macon on Bogue Banks Island off Beaufort, North Carolina is bombarded by Union cannon fire. Confederate troops feebly return fire using their old cannons and quickly surrender. General John G. Parke of General Ambrose E. Burnsides’ Army accepts the surrender of Colonel Moses J. White along with about 300 captives.
April 25, 1862 Commodore Farragut captures the city of New Orleans. Locals burn about 35,000 bales of cotton and resist the assault but the fighting is brief due to the water running high allowing Union gunners to point their guns over the levees.
April 25, 1862 About 4,000 Confederate troops and their commander, General Mansfield Lovell, escape New Orleans, heading inland.
April 25, 1862 The still under construction ironclad CSS Mississippi is destroyed by Confederate authorities in New Orleans to prevent its capture.
April 26, 1862 Union forces occupy New Market, Virginia.
April 26, 1862 The Union Navy captures four important Confederate vessels off the South Carolina coast. The USS Onward captures the schooner Chase off Raccoon Key; the USS Flambeau captures the blockade-runner Active off Stono Inlet; the USS Santiago De Cuba captures the Mersey off Charleston; and the USS Uncas captures the schooner Belle off Charleston.
April 27, 1862 General Benjamin Huger evacuates Norfolk on orders from General Joseph E. Johnston. The vessels and equipment in the Gosport Naval Yard are to be salvaged or destroyed by the departing workers.
April 27, 1862 U.S. Naval forces accept the surrender of Fort Livingston on Bastian Bay, Louisiana and the crew of the USS Kittatinny hoists the Stars and Stripes. The same afternoon, Fort Pike, Fort Quitman, and Fort Wood also capitulate.
April 28, 1862 Confederate General John K. Duncan stated that he needed authority from New Orleans to surrender Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. Commander Porter resumed the shelling of the forts believing the ammunition was running out at both strongholds. The situation suddenly changed when General Duncan’s 900 troops, many new immigrants to the area, mutiny and then surrender. They were quickly paroled.
April 28, 1862 The CSS Louisiana, Defiance, and McRae, unfinished ironclads, are burned to prevent capture at New Orleans. The British steamer Oreto arrives at Nassau, Bahamas. It later emerged as the CSS Florida.

April 29 – May 5, 1862

April 29, 1862 Timothy Webster, an employee of the Pinkerton Federal Secret Service, is hanged by Confederate authorities in Richmond. Webster was an important spy for the north.
April 29, 1862 CSA General Joseph E. Johnston defends his decision to sacrifice Norfolk and Gosport Navy facilities as a better choice than to lose them and his entire Confederate Army as well. The siege artillery and Union force build-up along the Warwick River near Yorktown, Virginia causes him to inform his superior that he will be moving his army inland as soon as practical. Norfolk was abandoned on April 22, 1862.
April 29, 1862 New Orleans officials formally surrender the city to Federal authorities. The crew from the USS Pensacola raised the U. S. flag over the U. S. Customs House on orders from Commodore Farragut. This caused indignation from city inhabitants.
April 29, 1862 General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson moves his forces from Staunton, Virginia to Port Republic, Virginia and sends Colonel Turner Ashby and his cavalry toward Harrisonburg, recently occupied by Union forces.
April 29, 1862 General Henry Halleck directs General Grant to move from Pittsburg Landing toward General Beauregard’s position at Corinth, Mississippi. Halleck became overall commander of the Army of the Mississippi on March 11,1862 and is now located at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee with about 100,000 troops in his combined army.
April 30, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson forces a 92-mile march plus 25 miles by rail in under four days and in heavy rain. They were moving toward Staunton, Virginia where Jackson intends to confront General John C. Fremont’s 20,000-man army. For the rest of the Civil War, Johnston’s troops refer to themselves as “Foot Cavalry.”
April 30, 1862 General Halleck completes the reorganization of his Armies of the Mississippi. General Grant is second in command, George H. Thomas (Army of the Tennessee) has the right wing, John Pope (Army of the Mississippi) left wing, John McClernand reserve wing, and Don C. Buell (Army of the Ohio) makes up the largest army ever assembled in North America. The 120,000-man army moves toward Corinth where General Beauregard has 53,000 Confederate troops.
May 1, 1862 William Tecumseh Sherman is promoted to major general, U.S. Army.
May 1, 1862 General Benjamin Butler and 15,000 Federal Troops enter New Orleans. Butler’s dictatorial rule created wide spread ill feeling toward the north.
May 2, 1862 General George McClellan continues to build siege artillery positions along the Warwick River line, now with more than 100 heavy guns and mortars. McClellan’s opposition is largely an illusionary force including “Quaker Cannons” and continuous counter marching.
May 3, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston begins the withdrawal of his 55,000-man force from the Yorktown-Warwick River line. The southern troops fire some distracting cannon fire but General McClellan is astonished that the Confederate Army could vanish. The Confederates retreat through Williamsburg toward Richmond while the Union begins to move up the Yorktown Peninsula.
May 4, 1862 Cavalry skirmishing takes place around old Williamsburg involving General J.E.B. Stuart and General George Steadman. The Confederates take the day when General Lafayette McLaws overruns Union troops under General Philip St. George Cook.
May 5, 1862 President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton board the steamer Miami to sail to Hampton Roads. They are on a mission to prod General McClellan to greater action.
May 5, 1862 The largest battle to ever take place in Williamsburg, Virginia is indecisive with heavy causalities on both sides. The Confederate troops continue to withdraw toward Richmond and the Union troops occupy Williamsburg.
May 5, 1862 Congress authorizes the creation of the Department of Agriculture.

May 6–12, 186

May 6, 1862 At Harrisonburg, Virginia, General Thomas J. Jackson’s Southern force defeats General Nathaniel P. Banks’ Union troops with minor losses on both sides. General Jackson marches his skirmishers 35 miles through the mountains toward McDowell while General Banks moves his confused group to New Market, Virginia.
May 6, 1862 Williamsburg continues to be the encampment of a large number of General McClellan’s Union troops.
May 7, 1862 On the road from Yorktown toward Richmond, both northern and southern troops continue to harass each other. At Eltham’s Landing, Virginia, General William B. Franklin lands part of his division of Union forces to attack the flank of the Confederate Troops moving north. General Gustavus W. Smith, in charge of moving the Confederate baggage train, is aware of the danger and orders General John B. Hood’s Texas Brigade to push the Union troops back toward the river. The move works until the guns from the river transports cause Hood to stop the pursuit. The wagon train moves on without damage and the Union force does not follow.
May 7, 1862 President Lincoln inspects the USS Monitor near Fortress Monroe.
May 7, 1862 General Jackson continues to push his 10,000 footsore soldiers toward McDowell in Western Virginia. As Jackson’s forces prepare to engage General Robert H. Milroy’s Federal Forces, General Robert C. Schenk’s brigade arrives, bringing the Union Force up to about 6,000.
May 8, 1862 Union forces occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
May 8, 1862 Generals Milroy and Jackson engage at McDowell in a relatively major battle. After a stiff fight lasting over four hours, Union General Milroy retreats with Confederate Cavalry Colonel Turner Ashby in pursuit. This is the first battle of Jackson’s Valley Campaign and Jackson’s losses are about twice the north’s loss. General Edward Johnston is severely wounded in this battle and requires a lengthy convalescence.
May 8, 1862 At Sewell’s Point, Virginia, the USS Monitor, Dacotah, Seminole, Susquehanna, and Naugatuck bombard Confederate batteries. This encounter is under the direction of President Lincoln who also orders the USS Galena up the James River to support General McClellan.
May 8, 1862 A landing party from the USS Iroquois strengthens the hold on Baton Rouge and seizes the local arsenal.
May 9, 1862 President Lincoln uses diplomatic terms to again admonish General McClellan for his slow move toward Richmond.
May 9, 1862 Confederate forces complete the evacuation of Norfolk, leaving behind vast quantities of supplies.
May 9, 1862 General David Hunter, commanding the Department of the South (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) declares all slaves emancipated and plans to arm and use them in the military.
May 9, 1862 As General Halleck moves slowly toward Corinth, Mississippi, General P.G.T. Beauregard begins to send skirmishers to further delay the Northern Army.
May 9, 1862 Confederate forces abandon Pensacola, Florida navy yard and destroy the unfinished ironclad CSS Fulton.
May 9, 1862 Captain Charles H. Davis relieves Commodore Andrew Foote. Commodore Foote was injured at the capture of Fort Donelson and is finally replaced.
May 10, 1862 Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk is occupied by Union Troops under General John Wool. This occupation was directed by President Lincoln from his offshore vessel.
May 10, 1862 Hearing of the fall of New Orleans, the Confederates evacuate the city of Pensacola, Florida. Union troops move into the town and promptly reclaim the base and navy yard. This is quickly turned into a Union Blockading Force supply depot.
May 10, 1862 The USS New Ironsides is launched at Philadelphia.
May 10, 1862 In a rare squadron action in the Civil War the Confederate River Defense Fleet with eight converted steam rams moves into the Mississippi River just north of Fort Pillow. The seven Union ironclads under Captain Charles H. Davis outgun the southern force but are not as maneuverable in cramped water. The lightly armed but cotton bale-protected vessels of Captain James Montgomery give the ironclads a rough time, sinking two. The USS Carondelet, heavily clad and outfitted with rifled cannon, drives Montgomery back to Fort Pillow. Captain Davis asks for new speedy Ellet rams.
May 11, 1862 The CSS Virginia, saved by the Confederate Navy when Gosport Navy Base was abandoned, is now scuttled because it draws too much water to hide up the James River. The Northern Blockading Fleet can now operate all the way to Drewry’s Bluff, below Richmond on the James River.
May 12, 1862 President Lincoln declares the Ports of Beaufort, North Carolina; Port Royal, South Carolina; and New Orleans open for trade. The president hopes commercial activity in the ports will strengthen political bonds between South and North.
May 12, 1862 General McClellan moves to White House, Virginia, just 22 miles from Richmond.
May 12, 1862 The crew of the CSS Virginia is assigned to man an artillery battery near Drewry’s Bluff which rises about 100 feet above the river just seven miles down river from Richmond. General George C. W. Lee, engineering officer and eldest son of Robert E. Lee, supervises the installation of redoubts and other blocks in the river.

May 13–19, 1862

May 13, 1862 Harbor Pilot Robert Smalls and seven other slaves seize the steamship Planter in Charleston Harbor and turn it over to the Union Blockade Squadron.
May 13, 1862 President Jefferson Davis sends his wife Varina out of Richmond as the Army of the Potomac continues to move slowly toward the Southern capital, causing panic.
May 13, 1862 Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson withdraws through the Shenandoah Valley. Union General John C. Fremont re-occupies Franklin in western Virginia.
May 14, 1862 Union forces stop at White House on the Pamunkey River about 20 miles from Richmond after skirmishes at Gaines’ Cross Roads. General McClellan has numerical superiority but elects to wait for General Irvin McDowell to arrive with his reinforcements.
May 15, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston withdraws his Confederate forces along the Chickahominy River and now stands within three miles of Richmond.
May 15, 1862 Rude behavior toward Union occupiers by ladies of New Orleans angers General Benjamin F. Butler. He issued his now infamous General Order No.28, the “Women Order.” It stipulates that any women showing disrespect toward a Union soldier will be arrested and treated as a prostitute. The southern population responded with outrage, including threat of hanging if Butler is apprehended. Benjamin Butler was called “Beast Butler” the remainder of his career.
May 15, 1862 General John C. Fremont moves on Princeton and Ravenswood in western Virginia.
May 15, 1862 At Liverpool, England, the armed vessel named “290” is launched. This became the infamous CSS Alabama.
May 15, 1862 Commodore John Rodgers moves the ironclads USS Monitor, Galena, and Naugatuck plus three wooden warships up the James River. At Drewry’s Bluff, Confederate artillery gives battle and has the advantage of plunging fire from the heights while the US fleet can barely elevate their guns enough to return fire. The USS Galena is struck 40 times with serious damage. The USS Naugatuck suffers damage when a 100-pound Parrot gun explodes while firing. The fleet limps back to Norfolk.
May 15, 1862 Corporal John B. Mackie is recognized for heroism under fire at the Drewry’s Bluff battle. He is the first U.S. Marine Corp member eligible for the Medal of Honor.
May 16, 1862 The mansion located at White House, Virginia on the Pamunkey River and formerly owned by General Robert E. Lee becomes General McClellan’s headquarters
May 16, 1862 General Butler orders two New Orleans newspapers (the Bee and the Delta) to close.
May 17, 1862 General McDowell’s I Corps is ordered south to join McClellan’s Army near Richmond. McDowell has occupied Fredericksburg, Virginia since April 17th.
May 17, 1862 General Jacob D. Cox leads Union Troops across the Flat Top Mountains of western Virginia in an effort to sever the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad near Princeton. Confederate General Humphrey Marshall attacks the Union troops at Princeton and saves the rail line.
May 17, 1862 General Henry W. Halleck continues his slow move toward Corinth, Mississippi.
May 18, 1862 Commander Stephen P. Lee demands the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederate General Martin Smith refuses. The fall of Vicksburg is more than a year away.
May 19, 1862 President Lincoln countermands the “emancipation order” of General David Hunter that affected the Dept. of the South, (South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida). General Hunter issued the order on April 13th.
May 19, 1862 Confederate troops led by General Thomas J. Jackson begin their move toward New Market, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley.
May 19, 1862 Union gunboats and troop carriers move south on the Mississippi River to attack Fort Pillow, near Memphis, Tennessee.

May 20–26, 1862

May 20, 1862 President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act providing western land to settlers who have never borne arms against the Union or aided its enemies. This act insured each settler would receive 160 acres of land if they remain sedentary for five years and work their plot. It greatly hastened western settlement.
May 20, 1862 General George B. McClellan halts eight miles from Richmond and divides his Army of the Potomac along both sides of the Chickahominy River where they wait for General Irvin McDowell and his army moving from Washington, D.C.
May 20, 1862 General Thomas Jackson joins General Richard Ewell in the Luray Valley of western Virginia. The combined force now numbers 17,000. General “Stonewall” Jackson plans to pressure General Nathaniel Banks’ forces in the valley to prevent them from moving to Richmond to aid McClellan.
May 20, 1862 The Federal gunboat Oneida begins shelling the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
May 21, 1862 General McClellan calls for reinforcements, ignoring his vast numerical superiority over General Joseph Johnston’s Confederate force in Richmond. The Army of the Potomac is eight miles from Richmond and waits for General Irvin McDowell to join them.
May 21, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson moves north in the Luray Valley and approaches Front Royal, Virginia. His movement is masked by cavalry commanded by General Ashby Turner.
May 22, 1862 The 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry (Rush’s Lancers) reconnoiters the area around New Castle and Hanovertown, Virginia as a northern approach to Richmond.
May 22, 1862 Union General Halleck continues his leisurely approach to Corinth, Mississippi. He has been moving south from Tennessee since the Battle of Shiloh on April 6th.
May 23, 1862 Ashby Turner is promoted to brigadier general, CSA.
May 23, 1862 President Lincoln travels to Fredericksburg, Virginia to confer with General McDowell. The president has McDowell delay his march toward Richmond.
May 23, 1862 General Jackson and his 17,000 man army moves on the Union outpost of Front Royal and easily defeats the surprised force of 1,000 men commanded by Colonel John R. Kenly. Confederate spy Belle Boyd aids the Confederates by providing Union troop positions within the town. Colonel Kenly moves only three miles toward Cedarville before 904 of his 1,000 man force is taken captive.
May 23, 1862 Both Confederate General Jackson and Union General Nathaniel Banks continue the race north to Winchester, Virginia.
May 24, 1862 The defeat at Front Royal shakes the Union and President Lincoln directs General John C. Fremont to advance to the Shenandoah Valley and confront Confederate forces wherever he finds them. The president also informs General McClellan that reinforcements are not available to join his already large army.
May 24, 1862 General Thomas Jackson tries to engage General Banks at Newtown, Virginia but catches up only to the rear guard of Banks’ Army. Prisoners and a few wagons are captured but Bank’s main force moves on toward Winchester. General Jackson’s success causes more Union panic and President Lincoln orders General McDowell to move north in the Shenandoah Valley to cut off any Confederate escape routes.
May 25, 1862 The battle now identified as the First Battle of Winchester takes place. This was a Sunday and the religious General Jackson disregards his habit of honoring the Sabbath and attacks. The Union line buckles and then breaks with a stampede of troops falling all the way back to the Potomac River in Maryland, some 35 miles north and completely out of the Shenandoah Valley. General Jackson is 50 miles from Washington with virtually no Union force in place to stop him. General Jackson is successful in distracting at least 40,000 Union Troops that could otherwise have joined the Army of the Potomac at the door of Richmond.
May 25, 1862 General P.G.T. Beauregard abandons Corinth, Mississippi with his 50,000 men as General Halleck’s much larger army continues to move closer.
May 25, 1862 Colonel Charles Ellet moves seven steam power rams to join the Union flotilla of gunboats outside of Fort Pillow. Commodore Charles H. Davis is in command.
May 25, 1862 President Lincoln telegraphs a message to General McClellan that contained this quote: “You must either attack Richmond or give up the job, and come back to the defense of Washington.”
May 26, 1862 Defeated General Nathaniel Banks enters Williamsport, Maryland. General Jackson occupies Winchester, Virginia and Union Generals Fremont and McDowell maneuver to cut the expected Confederate retreat south.
May 26, 1862 Lt. Isaac Brown is ordered to command the still unfinished armored ram CSS Arkansas at Yazoo City, Mississippi. Union forces continue to study alternate approaches to Vicksburg.

May 27 – June 2, 1862

May 27, 1862 Union forces under General Nathaniel Banks continue to cross the Potomac River to safety. General Thomas Jackson attacks their rearguard at Loudoun Height, western Virginia and threatens Harper’s Ferry.
May 27, 1862 A skirmish with a significant casualty count takes place at Hanover Court House, Virginia when General McClellan moves reinforcing troops to his right flank and they encounter the 28th North Carolina. Hanover Court House is on the north side of the Chickahominy River and only eight miles from Richmond.
May 28, 1862 Confederate President Davis states, “We are steadily developing for a great battle, and under God’s favor I trust for a decisive victory,” as he expresses disappointment that General Joseph Johnston has not begun an offensive against the large Army of the Potomac at Richmond.
May 28, 1862 The daily rum ration for Navy personnel is discussed as Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox asks for legislation to abolish the old practice.
May 29, 1862 General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry arrive in Richmond and report to General Johnston that General McDowell’s I Corps has been defeated at Fredericksburg. The armies of Generals McDowell, Fremont, and Banks have been effectively occupied which kept them from joining General McClellan’s Army in front of Richmond.
May 29, 1862 Nearly 50,000 troops of the Union army gather near Harper’s Ferry in an attempt to cut off General Jackson’s move from Front Royal. General “Stonewall” Jackson makes one of his rapid foot marches and quickly transits to Winchester and out of immediate danger.
May 29, 1862 General P.G.T. Beauregard, facing superior manpower in General Halleck’s Union force, abandons Corinth, Mississippi and withdraws toward Tupelo. The Confederate move was covered by singing, shouting, and other noise associated with the arrival of reinforcing forces when in fact the Confederate forces were leaving.
May 30, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston makes a close reconnaissance of Union troops on both sides of the rain-swollen Chickahominy River. He discovers the south bank is occupied by only 34,000 men of Generals Samuel Heintzelman and Erasmus Keyes, and they are unsupported. Johnston orders an attack by Generals James Longstreet, Daniel Hill, and Benjamin Huger, but the commands are all verbal and direct the young army to make complicated marches on three different roads.
May 30, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson stays ahead of the three converging Union Armies by moving from Winchester, Virginia, leaving a rearguard commanded by General Ashby Turner. The 1st Rhode Island Cavalry recaptures Front Royal along with over 150 Confederate troops and spy Belle Boyd.
May 30, 1862 General Halleck follows the withdrawal of General Beauregard’s army and captures about 2000 stragglers as they evacuate Corinth, Mississippi.
May 31, 1862 The Southern Army at Richmond runs into several problems with the attack on the south side of the Chickamominy River. With sections of the Confederates on the wrong roads, troops becoming intermingled, and a slow march, the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks begin about mid-afternoon and are inconclusive at 6:00 PM.
May 31, 1862 A secondary attack by Confederate General W. H. Whiting’s forces at Fair Oaks falters in the evening and General Johnston rides in to assume personal command. General Johnston is hit in the shoulder by a musket ball. General Gustavus Smith assumes command and the attack dissolves.
May 31, 1862 General Thomas Jackson avoids the converging Union Armies and moves from Winchester to Strasburg, Virginia.
June 1, 1862 Confederate forces at Seven Pines resume the offensive against the Army of the Potomac. General Robert E. Lee arrives from Richmond to succeed General Smith and orders the battle stopped at 1:00 PM. A major event of the war takes place when Robert E. Lee leaves the Confederate Capitol as advisor to President Davis and becomes a field General.
June 1, 1862 A skirmish between General Jackson’s Confederates and General Irvin McDowell’s Union troops takes place at Mount Carmel, western Virginia.
June 2, 1862 General Ashby Turner’s cavalry is overrun at Woodstock, western Virginia by Union Cavalry commanded by General George Bayard.
June 2, 1862 Union forces under General John Pope leave General Halleck’s main force to follow General Beauregard’s retreat to Rienzi, Mississippi.
June 2, 1862 Mrs. Rose O’Neil Greenhow, who continued to spy for the Confederate cause while under house arrest in Washington, D.C., is banished to the South.

June 3–9, 1862

June 3, 1862 Colonel George F. Shepley becomes military governor of Louisiana.
June 3, 1862 Following the fall of Corinth, Mississippi to the Union, the Confederates abandon Fort Pillow, Tennessee, located below Island #10 on the Mississippi.
June 3, 1862 Confederate forces no longer defend Memphis, Tennessee once Fort Pillow is abandoned. Only a weak Confederate Naval squadron protects Memphis.
June 4, 1862 Southern farmers along the Yazoo River burn acres of growing cotton to keep the valuable crop from Union control.
June 4, 1862 Following a brief skirmish at Big Bend, western Virginia, General Thomas J. Jackson moves his Army southward into the Shenandoah Valley.
June 4, 1862 Commodore Charles H. Davis bypasses Fort Pillow with his gunboat flotilla.
June 4, 1862 General Ormsby M. Mitchel skirmishes near Huntsville, Alabama and begins to threaten Chattanooga, Tennessee.
June 5, 1862 President Lincoln appoints diplomats to Liberia and Haiti after the United States formally recognizes these largely black nations. Lincoln briefly considered moving former slaves to these locations to establish colonies of freed slaves.
June 5, 1862 General McClellan’s move toward Richmond is delayed once again, this time by inclement weather.
June 5, 1862 General Robert E. Lee acquaints himself with the Confederate Army, his new command and readies his force for a counter strike when the Union Army moves.
June 5, 1862 With no further threat from the Confederates at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, four gunboats and five rams under Commodore Charles H. Davis and Colonel Charles Ellet steam downriver to capture Memphis.
June 6, 1862 Anchored off Island #45 just two miles north of Memphis, the Union ironclads USS Benton, Louisville, Carondelet, Cairo, and St. Louis plus Colonel Ellet’s fleet of rams head for the city. Captain James E. Montgomery moves his steam rams, the CSS General Beauregard, General Bragg, General Price, General Van Dorn, General Thompson, Colonel Lovell, Sumter, and Little Rebel to oppose. All Confederate ships except the Van Dorn are rammed. Confederate loss also includes 100 killed and a similar number captured. The Union ran one of their vessels aground to keep it from sinking and suffered one casualty. Colonel Ellet was shot through the knee and died two weeks later with infection.
June 6, 1862 Commodore Davis demands the surrender of Memphis, which occurs immediately. Memphis becomes a staging area for assaults on Vicksburg.
June 6, 1862 Confederate cavalry General Ashby Turner is killed leading rearguard activity near Harrisonburg, western Virginia. General Jackson moves to Port Royal, western Virginia, and marches 100 miles in five days.
June 7, 1862 At New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler adds to his legacy of being a brute and to his nickname Beast Butler by ordering William B. Mumford hanged for removing and destroying the Union flag raised over the New Orleans Mint when the city was captured back on April 25th. June 7/8, 1862 - Union artillery attacks on Chattanooga accomplish nothing.
June 8, 1862 General Jackson’s Army of the Valley remains in Port Royal. A surprise Union raid captures three of his staff officers. The Union loses four cannons.
June 8, 1862 Just seven miles from Port Royal at Cross Keyes, western Virginia, Union General Fremont and Confederate General Ewell’s forces skirmish. General Fremont’s actions were judged timid on this day.
June 9, 1862 At Port Republic, Virginia, the Stonewall brigade has its last encounter of the Valley Campaign. Little is accomplished by either side. Jackson’s battlefield leadership is brought into question due to his order to burn all bridges, taking away any chance to defeat the Union forces. General Fremont could only shell from across the river due to the bridges being burned, but he was late arriving and did not assist General Tyler in countering the initial attack by Jackson’s troops.

June 10–16, 1862

June 10, 1862 General Henry Halleck restores General U.S. Grant, Don C. Buell, and John Pope to command of their respective corps. General Grant is the theater commander and immediately quickens the pace after the slow moving Halleck makes this change.
June 11, 1862 Lord Palmerston, British Prime Minister, sends a message to U.S. minister Charles F. Adams protesting the actions of General Benjamin Butler in New Orleans.
June 11, 1862 General John C. Fremont moves his forces from Port Republic back to Mount Jackson in western Virginia.
June 11, 1862 Confederate guerrillas are unsuccessful in an attack on a Federal mail escort at Pink Hill, Missouri. William Quantrill is the leader of the raid.
June 11, 1862 General Henry W. Benham, temporarily in charge of the Department of the South, is ordered to refrain from any engagement of the enemy by his commander, General David Hunter.
June 12, 1862 General George A. McCall’s division joins the Army of the Potomac, further strengthening this already overwhelming force.
June 12, 1862 At 2:00 AM, General J.E.B. Stuart suddenly ordered his 1200 troops to be ready to ride in 10 minutes. They leave Richmond and over the next three days complete a circuit around General McClellan’s Army.
June 12, 1862 General Robert E. Lee dispatches a sizeable force toward the Shenandoah Valley. It turns out to be an attempt to confuse the Federal Army leaders into thinking a major offensive push was planned for the valley.
June 13, 1862 General J.E.B. Stuart is past the right flank of the Union army and decides to continue. In a minor skirmish with the 5th U.S. Cavalry, Captain William Latane of the 9th Virginia Cavalry is killed, the only casualty suffered by Stuart’s forces on the entire ride.
June 14, 1862 As J.E.B. Stuart closes in on the end of his ride around the Union Army, he is chased by Federal Cavalry commanded by his father-in-law, Colonel Philip St.George Cook, a fellow Virginian.
June 15, 1862 President Lincoln informs General Fremont that Confederate troop movement toward the Shenandoah Valley is likely a ruse to mask General Thomas J. Jackson’s movement to Richmond.
June 15, 1862 General Robert E. Lee orders General Jackson to join the Army of Northern Virginia on the Peninsula as he arrives in the Richmond area from the Shenandoah Valley. It is General Lee’s intent to cripple General McClellan’s Army before Gen. McDowell can reinforce.
June 15, 1862 General Stuart rides into Richmond with important military intelligence about the size and position of the Army of the Potomac. He also informs Lee that General John Fritz Porter’s V Corps is “in the air” (unprotected and unsupported) on their right flank. General Lee plans an attack on this exposed weak spot.
June 15, 1862 Union troops under General William T. Sherman skirmish at Tallahatchie Bridge, Mississippi.
June 16, 1862 The rest of General Stuart’s Cavalry arrives in Richmond with 165 prisoners and about 260 mules and horses.
June 16, 1862 On James Island, South Carolina, General Henry Benham orders an attack on the Confederate fortification at Secessionville, southwest of Charleston, in spite of his standing order to avoid any contact with the enemy. (See entry for June 11, 1862.) The battle of Secessionville is a disaster for the Union. The fort is renamed Fort Lamar to honor Colonel Thomas G. Lamar of the 1st South Carolina Artillery, the unit most responsible for the defensive success. General Benham is relieved from command.

June 17–23, 1862

June 17, 1862 General John C. Fremont resigns his commission, upset over being subordinate to General John Pope in the new Army of Virginia. General Fritz Sigel replaces Fremont.
June 17, 1862 General Pierre G.T. Beauregard is in poor health and is replaced as commander of the Confederate Western Department by General Braxton Bragg, a close friend of President Jefferson Davis. Bragg is never well liked or respected by his subordinates due to his indecisive nature and rambling speeches. Many ranking Confederates openly loathed serving under him even though General Bragg was regarded as a capable strategist.
June 17, 1862 General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson moves quickly toward Richmond to join Robert E. Lee’s Army.
June 17, 1862 Captain Charles H. Davis is promoted to Commodore and commander of U.S. Navy forces along the Mississippi.
June 18, 1862 General George W. Morgan moves Union forces into the Cumberland Gap effectively controlling mountain trails between Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. This revives long suppressed Union sentiment in the region.
June 18, 1862 At Vicksburg, local residents join with the Confederate garrison occupying the town to construct extensive defensive works.
June 18, 1862 Admiral David Farragut assembles his squadron and mortar fleet south of Vicksburg in preparation for the night run past Vicksburg’s guns.
June 19, 1862 President Lincoln signs legislation outlawing slavery in all territories.
June 19, 1862 At James Island, South Carolina, General Henry W. Benham is arrested for his aborted attack on Secessionville. The Judge Advocate General recommends his brigadier’s commission also be revoked. (See June 16,1862 when Benham was relieved from command.)
June 19, 1862 Confederate Secretary of the Navy is informed of the readiness of the CSS Teaser, the first mine laying vessel. Also, galvanic cell batteries and an observation balloon are ready for use aboard this new ship.
June 20, 1862 General Braxton Bragg reaches Tupelo, Mississippi to replace General Beauregard as commander of the Confederate Western Department.
June 20, 1862 About 3000 Union Soldiers board Admiral Farragut’s ships and depart Baton Rouge. General William Thomas commands the force that is directed to begin a canal to bypass Vicksburg, out of range of the Vicksburg guns.
June 21, 1862 At Richmond, the expected heavy military action is further delayed while skirmish activity takes place along both sides of the Chickahominy River.
June 21, 1862 Union landing parties from the USS Crusader and USS Planter capture Simmons Bluff and a Confederate encampment on the Madmelow River, South Carolina.
June 22, 1862 Thirty nurses from the Sisters of Charity reach Fortress Monroe, Virginia to aid the Army of the Potomac.
June 23, 1862 President Lincoln travels to West Point, New York to confer with Winfield Scott, former general in chief of Union forces. The apparent subject was Lincoln’s dissatisfaction with General George McClellan and what course of action to follow.
June 23, 1862 General Robert E. Lee plans his offensive action against the Army of the Potomac’s right wing, commanded by General Fritz John Porter. (See June 15 entry.) The plan includes the use of 55,000 Confederates against Porter’s 30,000 strong V Corps. The critical move is to have General Jackson, on a forced march from the Shenandoah Valley, to attack from behind while forces under Generals Longstreet, Daniel H. Hill, and Ambrose P. Hill attack from Richmond. General Jackson leaves to rejoin his marching force of “Foot Cavalry” on the critical move.
June 23, 1862 General McClellan is held in place at Richmond by demonstrations by a small force of Confederates under Generals Huger and John Magruder.

June 24–30, 1862

June 24, 1862 As the Army of the Potomac approaches Mechanicsville, Virginia, skirmishing breaks out. The Confederate forces abandon White House Landing.
June 24, 1862 General Earl Van Dorn proceeds with the fortification of Vicksburg while about 3,000 Union soldiers camp directly across the river from the town.
June 25, 1862 The Army of the Potomac is just six miles from Richmond, the closest they will get in the next 33 months. General McClellan orders cannons to be placed at Oak Grove, a swampy, wooded area in front of his army. The battle has an inconclusive value. General McClellan congratulates himself but only gained about 600 yards toward Richmond.
June 25, 1862 The new Army of Virginia, made up of forces formerly under the command of Generals Irvin McDowell, John C. Fremont, and Nathaniel P. Banks is located in western Virginia under their new commander, General John Pope.
June 25, 1862 At Pekin, (southern) Illinois, the Union League is founded to counter the growth of pro-Southern civic groups, to bolster Union morale, and to aid in the Union war effort.
June 26, 1862 The battle planned by General Robert E. Lee to annihilate General Fitz John Porter’s right wing pits 47,000 Confederates against 30,000 Union troops. The plan hinges on the arrival of General Thomas J. Jackson’s army from the Shenandoah Valley. When General Jackson’s exhausted army arrives at the assigned meeting point, no one is present with instructions so the army goes into bivouac. This first real battle of the Seven Days War is a technical Union win but the consequences are devastating to the Union. General McClellan orders General Porter to abandon the ground he just successfully defended and begins to move his own main army from the Pamunkey River to Harrison Landing on the James River. This move is ever after ridiculed by both sides as “the Great Skedaddle.”
June 27, 1862 President Lincoln receives a resignation letter from General Fremont and accepts the resignation of this controversial explorer, soldier, and politician.
June 27, 1862 The Union V Corps moves about five miles to Gaines’ Mill and establishes a defensive perimeter as General Lee’s Confederates pursue. In spite of a series of blunders on both sides, an heroic charge by Union 2nd and 5th Cavalry troops covers the Union retreat and allows Porter’s forces to escape the field. This is the bloodiest of the Seven Days Battles with 7,993 Confederate and 6,837 Union soldiers killed, missing, or wounded.
June 28, 1862 Digging begins on the canal to skirt Vicksburg by altering a natural bend in the Mississippi River.
June 28, 1862 General McClellan concludes that yet again he failed due to lack of requested reinforcements.
June 28, 1862 Confederate forces under Colonel George T. Anderson are repulsed by Union troops at Garnett’s and Golding’s farms, Virginia. That night, General Robert Toombs, former Confederate Secretary of State, probes the Union line and also suffers defeat. These are the third and fourth battles of the “Seven Days Battles.”
June 28, 1862 Federal forces temporarily suspend the campaign on James Island and concentrate on the capture of Charleston, South Carolina.
June 28, 1862 General Philip Sheridan moves Union Cavalry to Boonesboro, twenty miles south of Corinth, Mississippi and establishes a fortified outpost. General Braxton Bragg is believed to be in the area with a small Confederate force.
June 28, 1862 General Earl Van Dorn arrives back in Vicksburg and continues the fortification of the town.
June 28, 1862 The U.S. Navy vessels sail from Fortress Monroe to Harrison’s Landing to secure communication for the Army of the Potomac, moving from Richmond.
June 29, 1862 General John Magruder leaves Williamsburg, Virginia to look for Union forces moving north toward Richmond with the plan to attack the rearguard of any forces located. When the Union Army is found, Magruder is outnumbered; his 11,000 men to about 26,000 Union troops supported by 40 cannons. Even with these poor odds, Magruder attacks and Union General Edwin Sumner simply lobes shells toward the Confederate positions until a downpour brings the contact to a halt at 9:00 PM. Other than the substantial loss of men on both sides, little is accomplished and the II Corps moves on toward White Oak Swamp and Glendale.
June 29, 1862 The Confederate Department of Alabama and West Florida disbands.
June 29, 1862 The fifth major battle of the Seven Days Battles takes place at Savage’s Station. Again, not much is gained by either side with General Jackson failing to properly execute the plan laid out by General Lee and General McClellan wonders why his forces can’t work in the field the way it worked on the map. Both armies move toward Glendale.
June 30, 1862 General McClellan’s troops retreat after major action with General Lee’s forces at White Oak Swamp or Glendale, the sixth of the “Seven Days Battles.” Again, a very large casualty count, but no real victory for either side. The Union line of retreat is still open and they move to Malvern Hill, just two miles away and go into defensive positions. General Lee’s Army prepares for another battle before the Union Army reaches Harrison’s Landing; a spot General McClellan feels is defensible.

July 1–7, 1862

July 1, 1862 Although Union guns devastate the enemy at Malvern Hills, the last of the Seven Days Battles, Gen. McClellan withdraws and leaves Richmond safe. The Confederate capital is safe for another three and a half years. Casualties for the Malvern Hills battle were: Union loss - 3214, and Confederate loss - 5355. Totals for the Seven Days Battles were: Union loss - 15,849, and Confederate loss - 20,141.
July 1, 1862 The Union’s freshwater and saltwater fleets meet for the first time on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg.
July 1, 1862 About 5,000 Confederate Cavalry attack at Boonesville, Mississippi, but Colonel Philip Sheridan counterattacks with just 827 Union troops and routs the enemy.
July 2, 1862 US Congress passes legislation requiring each military officer and government official to swear allegiance to the Constitution. President Lincoln authorizes the law, which became know as the “Ironclad test oath.”
July 2, 1862 President Lincoln signs the Morrill Act establishing colleges for agriculture and mechanical arts.
July 2, 1862 General McClellan concludes the “great Skedaddle” from near Richmond to Harrison’s Landings.
July 3, 1862 Both President Lincoln and Gen. McClellan come under criticism and recrimination over the Peninsula campaign’s failure.
July 3, 1862 General Sterling Price is appointed to command the Confederate Army of the West.
July 4, 1862 Confederate Col. John Morgan conducts his first cavalry raid into Kentucky. This raid lasts through most of the month and results in capture and parole of 1200 Union supporters.
July 4, 1862 General McClellan writes a letter to President Lincoln outlining how to conduct the war, advising that the objective should be to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery.
July 4, 1862 Fitz John Porter, John Sedgwick, and Philip Kearny become major generals of the U.S. Army.
July 5, 1862 The USS Hatteras captures the Elizabeth, a Confederate sloop, off the Louisiana coast.
July 5, 1862 The U.S. Navy Department is reorganized into Divisions by an Act of Congress. The Divisions were: Recruiting, Equipment, Ordnance, Yards & Docks, Construction & Repair, Steam Engineering, Provisions & Clothing, and Medicine & Surgery.
July 6, 1862 General Nathan Bedford Forrest assembles a cavalry unit in Mississippi and plans an extended raid into Tennessee.
July 7, 1862 President Lincoln visits Harrison’s Landing, Virginia to discuss recent events with General McClellan. The general cites lack of proper reinforcements as the primary reason he could not move on Richmond. He also advised the President to take a conservative approach, both in war strategy and politics.
July 7, 1862 Commodore John Rogers’ James River Flotilla escorts the convoy of army transports to Harrison’s Landing in support of the Army of the Potomac.

July 8–14, 1862

July 8, 1862 At Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Confederate General William C. Quantrill’s camp is over-run and occupied by Federal troops.
July 8, 1862 President Lincoln arrives at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, to confer with General McClellan.
July 9, 1862 Confederate Cavalry commanded by Colonel John H. Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky, taking 400 Union troops as prisoners.
July 10, 1862 General John Pope situates his newly named Army of Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. Locals are warned of harsh justice for “treasonable acts” and ordered to assist Union efforts.
July 10, 1862 Morgan’s Confederate Raiders capture Glasgow, Kentucky. Colonel Morgan urges locals to “rise and arm, and drive the invaders from the soil.”
July 11, 1862 Congress authorizes compensation for the families of Union soldiers killed in action against the CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
July 11, 1862 Colonel Morgan moves north as far as Lebanon, Kentucky, alarming residents of Louisville and Lexington as well as Evansville, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio.
July 12, 1862 Soldiers are included as eligible recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, established in 1861 for navel personnel only.
July 12, 1862 Due to falling water levels on the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the large ironclad CSS Arkansas is forced to move nearer to Vicksburg.
July 13, 1862 President Lincoln seeks congressional action to compensate states willing to abolish slavery.
July 13, 1862 President Lincoln informs Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells of his plan to read the “emancipation proclamation” to the full Cabinet on July 22.
July 13, 1862 Union troops burn a bridge on the Rapidan River after a skirmish with Confederate forces.
July 13, 1862 Confederate Cavalry led by Colonel John Morgan raids Harrodsburg, Kentucky while Colonel Nathan B. Forrest’s Cavalry captures Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
July 14, 1862 Border states announce their opposition to President Lincoln’s compensated emancipation plan.
July 14, 1862 The Army of Virginia under General Pope, is repositioned to be between Washington D.C. and the Confederate forces, now located north of Richmond and west of McClellan’s position at Harrison’s Landing on the Rappahannock River. The aim is to take pressure off of General McClellan’s force.

July 15–21, 1862

July 15, 1862 The CSS Arkansas, moving from the Yazoo River into the Mississippi, is attack by the USS Carondelet, Tyler, and Queen of the West. The Arkansas inflicts damage on the Carondelet and Tyler, runs past 16 more Union vessels of Commodore Farragut’s fleet, and docks below Vicksburg under the heavy guns on the bluff.
July 15, 1862 Commodore Farragut, angered over being surprised, runs past Vicksburg in daylight and attacks the USS Arkansas. Both vessels involved are damaged but stay afloat. Farragut moves back to New Orleans due to low water in the Mississippi and to seek repairs. The Arkansas stays below Vicksburg for nearly another year.
July 16, 1862 Confederate Agent John Slidell asks the French government to grant diplomatic recognition of the Confederate States of America. Emperor Napoleon III refuses.
July 16, 1862 The Union’s western fleet, constructed and controlled by the War Department, is transferred to the Navy Department by act of Congress.
July 16, 1862 David G. Farragut is promoted to Rear Admiral, the first officer to hold the rank.
July 17, 1862 Following General Halleck’s move to Washington, D.C., General U.S. Grant resumes his command of the western theater.
July 17, 1862 The Second Confiscation Act takes effect meaning all slaves reaching Union lines are free and slaves seeking assistance in immigrating to a Union State are helped.
July 18, 1862 Colonel John H. Morgan leads Confederate Cavalry to Cynthiana, Kentucky.
July 18, 1862 Confederate Captain Adam R. Johnson leads a raid into Newburg, Indiana. As he retreats back across the river, stovepipe cannons (fake or Quaker cannons) are erected effectively stopping any pursuit by the Indiana Home Guard. Johnson is ever after known as Stovepipe Johnson.
July 18, 1862 Secretary of the Navy Wells directs each naval flag officer to select three candidates from their ranks to become Naval Academy candidates.
July 19, 1862 New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley writes to President Lincoln suggesting he free all slaves as a way of weakening the Confederacy.
July 19, 1862 Congress approves a pension bill guaranteeing lifetime subsidy to all naval personnel injured in the line of duty.
July 20, 1862 Cavalry of Colonel Morgan’s raiders are surprised and defeated by Union Cavalry at Owensville, Kentucky.
July 21, 1862 General Sterling Price again commands The Confederate District of Tennessee. The Confederate Army of the Mississippi advances toward Chattanooga under command of General Braxton Bragg.
July 21, 1862 In a cabinet meeting, President Lincoln discusses employment of African-Americans as soldiers with no action taken.
July 21, 1862 Union General Sherman takes command of the District of Memphis.

July 22–28, 1862

July 22, 1862 The Emancipation Proclamation is presented to President Lincoln’s entire Cabinet. Secretary of State William Seward suggests that the proclamation be held from public reading until a clear Union victory in the field.
July 22, 1862 An exchange agreement for war prisoners is reached between Confederate and Union officials. The agreement works satisfactorily until the fall of 1863 when the question of treatment of black soldiers ends the plan.
July 22, 1862 Secretary of War Stanton announces an Army plan for the confiscation of personal property for military use and the employment of black laborers in the military.
July 22, 1862 Confederate Raider John H. Morgan moves south to Tennessee after an extended raid into Kentucky. Union officials discover the tapping of their telegraph system allowing the intercept of all army dispatches for the past 12 days.
July 22, 1862 Captain William Porter aboard the USS Essex leads the USS Queen of the West in an attack on the CSS Arkansas below Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. The battle is a draw until the CSS Arkansas leaves the safety of the land based cannons of Vicksburg and is rammed by the USS Queen of the West with engine damage the result.
July 23, 1862 General Halleck, newly arrived in Washington, suggests the combining of General George McClellan’s army with the army of General John Pope.
July 23, 1862 General John Pope tightens the Union military hold in the Shenandoah by ordering all men of military age to take an oath of allegiance or face deportation to the South. Violators to be executed and their property confiscated.
July 23, 1862 General Braxton Bragg transfers about 31,000 Confederate Soldiers from Tupelo, Mississippi to Chattanooga, Tennessee in the largest rail transfer by the Confederacy during the war. About 32,000 Confederate troops remain in the Tupelo and Vicksburg areas under Generals Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn. No clear line of authority is established between these two headstrong leaders to the detriment of the Confederacy.
July 24, 1862 Falling water level on the Mississippi River coupled with crew sickness prompts Rear Admiral David Farragut to move his squadron from below Vicksburg to New Orleans. He also advises that naval force alone cannot take Vicksburg; a large, well-equipped army is his suggestion.
July 24, 1862 Former President Martin Van Buren, eighth U.S. President, dies at age 80 at Kinderhook, New York.
July 24, 1862 Union General John Gibbon reconnoiters Orange Court House, Virginia from his Fredericksburg field position.
July 24, 1862 A Union gunboat flotilla steams to Helena, Arkansas to stem the flow of men and supplies coming from Texas and Arkansas. The flotilla is under command of Admiral Charles H. Davis and they plan to disrupt communications as well. Helena is located on the Mississippi River below Memphis.
July 25, 1862 J. E. B. Stuart is appointed Major General, C.S.A.
July 27, 1862 John Buford is promoted to Brigadier General of Cavalry, U.S. Army.
July 28, 1862 Colonel John B. Morgan arrives back in Livingston, Tennessee after a successful raid into Kentucky.
July 28, 1862 Governors of Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas ask President Jefferson Davis to appoint a strong commanding general to lead the defense of their states. They also ask for more men, supplies, and money.

July 29 – August 4, 1862

July 29, 1862 Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested at Warrenton, Virginia and sent to the Old Capital Prison in Washington, D.C.
July 29, 1862 The Confederate Army continues to move various units toward Chattanooga as a more central concentration of Southern forces. General Braxton Bragg plans an offensive move into Kentucky from northern Tennessee.
July 29, 1862 British built ship “290” departs Liverpool for trials but actually sails to Nassau as the Enrica. This vessel later becomes the CSS Alabama, an infamous commerce raider for the South.
July 30, 1862 General Benjamin Butler continues to rule New Orleans with an iron hand. This time he confiscates a load of church bells cast in Boston and orders them sold.
July 30, 1862 General McClellan is ordered to send sick and wounded soldiers from Harrison’s Landing to Washington D.C. as he prepares to shift his entire command back to the capital.
July 31, 1862 U.S. Minister to England Charles F. Adams learns of the launch of the Enrica and asks Foreign Secretary Lord Russell to hold the vessel in the port. Lord Russell doesn’t react for five days and the Confederate agents sail away. This is a major source of friction between the U.S. Government and England.
July 31, 1862 Reacting to the news that hostile Southern citizens are to be shot for treason in the Shenandoah Valley under General Pope’s order, President Jefferson Davis directs that any Union officer captured from Pope’s Army of Virginia will be treated as a felon.
August 1, 1862 An artillery dual takes place at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia.
August 1, 1862 Sixty-five pro-Union German settlers in Texas are convinced to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico and sail to New Orleans to enlist. Confederate authorities send 94 men to intercept them.
August 2, 1862 American Minister Charles F. Adams is told to officially ignore any attempt at mediation brought forth by the British Government.
August 2, 1862 Union forces of General Pope’s command enter Orange Court House, Virginia and capture Confederate prisoners.
August 2, 1862 General Henry Halleck directs General McClellan to begin the shift of Union troops from Harrison’s Landing on the Yorktown Peninsula to Aquia Landing near Fredericksburg, Virginia to improve the protection of Washington, D.C.
August 4, 1862 President Lincoln calls for 300,000 state militiamen to be drafted for nine months but this was never acted upon. Manpower shortages persisted but the president refused to induct two Negro Regiments from Indiana and suggested they could be employed as laborers.
August 4, 1862 General Ambrose Burnsides arrives at Aquia Creek to assist the Army of Virginia and General Pope as they are brought together with McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.
August 4, 1862 General Butler orders assessments of $341,000 on “secessionists” to fund the care of the city’s poor in New Orleans.

August 5–11, 1862

August 5, 1862 In a large battle at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops under General John C. Breckenridge attack a Union enclave. The focus of the attack is to rid the area of Union forces and to secure Port Hudson as a choke point on the Mississippi River. Port Hudson is about halfway between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. Union General Thomas Williams is killed and Confederate General Charles Clark is wounded and later captured. Official counts show 84 soldiers killed on each side with 299 Union and 372 Southerners wounded.
August 5, 1862 The CSS Arkansas, moving down the Mississippi River to counter Union gunboats at Baton Rouge, suffers a broken propeller shaft. This delay is named as the cause of the Confederate defeat.
August 6, 1862 S. Rosecrans is promoted to Major General, U.S. Army.
August 6, 1862 Skirmishing continues around Malvern Hill and Thornburg, Virginia. Federal forces withdraw.
August 6, 1862 Union General Robert L. McCook, riding in an ambulance wagon in Tennessee, is murdered by Confederate guerrillas.
August 6, 1862 Sioux Chief Little Crow meets with Indian Agent Andrew J. Myrick to plead for food. Due to the war, payments and supplies are tardy and the tribe is starving. Agent Myrick’s official response is: “So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass.” The Indians in Arkansas and Missouri actively fight with the Southern forces for much of the rest of the Civil War and participated in some of the bloodiest battles.
August 6, 1862 The hobbled CSS Arkansas is attacked by the USS Essex as it moves from Baton Rouge and is run aground. Lieutenant Henry K. Stevens orders the ironclad scuttled. Never again is such a large Confederate warship deployed on the Mississippi.
August 7, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson orders 24,000 Confederate troops to march north toward Orange Courthouse, Virginia. The longtime feud between General Jackson and General Ambrose P. Hill is fueled by Hill getting a late start with only eight miles movement on the day.
August 7, 1862 President Lincoln, Secretary Stanton, and Secretary Seward visit the Washington Navel Yard to witness the test firing of the experimental repeating cannon “Rafael.”
August 8, 1862 Secretary of War Edwin Stanton suspends writs of habeas corpus throughout the country to aid cases of treason and draft evasion.
August 8, 1862 General Nathaniel Banks moves his 9,000 man Division of Union troops to Culpeper Road. General Thomas J. Jackson crosses the Rapidan River with his 24,000 Confederates to evict Banks’ force from Culpeper County.
August 8, 1862 General Braxton Bragg invades Kentucky from Chattanooga, Tennessee with 30,000 men of his Army of the Mississippi.
August 8, 1862 At Huntsville, Alabama, Southern guerrillas attack rail traffic. The Union counters by arresting Secessionist Clergy and forcing them to ride as passengers on these trains.
August 9, 1862 The Battle of Cedar Mountain near Culpeper, Virginia takes place. Union General Banks, outnumbered 24,000 to his 9,000, deploys along the base of the mountain with artillery cover above. General Jackson advances but is driven back by the cannon fire. Again, Ambrose P. Hill’s unit is slow and strung out over several miles, resulting is a tardy deployment. Jackson fails to realize an additional two Union Brigades under General’s Samuel Crawford and George Gordon are on the flank of the Confederate line. The result is the defeat of the famous Stonewall Brigade commanded by General Harry S. Winder, with Winder being killed. Reports suggest that General Jackson drew his sword, grabbed a flag, and led his troops to rally; the only time in the war he did so. The southern soldiers dubbed the site “Slaughter Mountain.” The costly battle did delay the southward advance of General Pope, giving General Robert E. Lee time to reinforce Jackson with General Longstreet’s forces.
August 10, 1862 A general truce is in effect at Cedar Mountain to collect and bury the dead.
August 11, 1862 General Jackson crosses the Rapidan River, withdrawing south to Gordanville, Virginia.
August 11, 1862 William Quantrill, Confederate raider, captures and briefly holds Independence, Missouri.
August 11, 1862 From Corinth, Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant announces all fugitive slaves will be employed by his department as laborers.

August 12–18, 1862

August 12, 1862 Colonel John H. Morgan takes Gallatin, Tennessee by stealth, capturing 124 Union soldiers without firing a shot. A Louisville and Nashville Railroad tunnel is destroyed cutting General Don C. Buell’s supply line. This delayed Buell’s advance on Chattanooga for at least three months.
August 12, 1862 Union forces leave Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and move toward Independence, Missouri to rid that city of Confederate irregulars.
August 13, 1862 General Robert E. Lee begins moving his Army from the Peninsula toward Gordonville, Virginia. The first to move are 30,000 of General James Longstreet’s men, transported by rail. They link up with General Jackson’s corps near Gordonville. The abandonment of the Peninsula began when Northern units under General McClellan are moved from just east of Richmond to Aquia Creek, south of Washington, D.C. The Peninsula is completely emptied of both Union and Confederate field forces in the next several days.
August 13, 1862 Union steamers (the George Peabody and the West Point) accidentally collide on the Potomac River resulting in 83 deaths, mostly convalescents.
August 13, 1862 U.S. Navy Captain John W. Kittridge lands at Corpus Christi, Texas under flag of truce and urges Confederate leaders to evacuate local citizens as he intends to attack.
August 14, 1862 President Lincoln confers with a delegation of free Blacks at the White House. He urges them to consider Central America as a possible location of a colony for free blacks. Black leaders, including Frederick Douglas, react with disdain and accuse the President of “contempt for Negroes.”
August 14, 1862 The III Corps and V Corps of the Union Army are transported from Harrison’s Landing to Aquia Creek.
August 15, 1862 General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia completes the move to fields around Gordonville, Virginia. General Lee plans a quick strike on the Union forces of General John Pope, still located on the south side of the Rappahannock. A rapid strike would isolate Pope and allow the Confederates to defeat this portion of the Union Army in detail (completely). General Lee is dissuaded from carrying out the plan by General Fitzhugh Lee who feels his cavalry horses are worn and need to rest.
August 16, 1862 The Army of the Potomac completes its relocation from Harrison’s Landing to Aquia Creek and is in position to better protect the capital.
August 16, 1862 General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is at Gordonville. The two armies are about 45 miles apart; the Union Army 35 miles Southeast of Manassas and the Confederates about 55 miles Southwest of that early war battlefield.
August 16, 1862 A major Southern offensive to retake the border state of Kentucky is launched from Knoxville, Tennessee by General Edmond Kirby-Smith. His 10,000 troops move through the Cumberland Gap and occupy the town of Barboursville, Kentucky. Supply difficulties force the invaders to move on toward Lexington within two days.
August 17, 1862 Half-starved Sioux tribe members stage an uprising in Southwest Minnesota, killing five settler farmers. A six-week continuous raid on settlers begins with Sioux Chief Little Crow realizing an Indian uprising is inevitable.
August 17, 1862 J.E.B. Stuart becomes commander of all Cavalry units in the Army of Northern Virginia.
August 18, 1862 The second session of the Confederate Congress convenes with a speech by President Jefferson Davis. The Confederate President dwells on a long list of bad behavior at New Orleans on the part of Union General Benjamin Butler.
August 18, 1862 General Pope withdraws behind the Rappahannock River and awaits the arrival of reinforcements from General McClellan’s army.
August 18, 1862 Sioux tribe members attack the Upper and Lower Indian Agencies in Minnesota, killing 20 people including Agent Andrew J. Myrick. Agent Myrick’s mouth is stuffed with grass in reprisal for his ’let the Indians eat grass’ comments on August 6th.
August 18, 1862 A landing party of 30 Union sailors with a single howitzer lands at Corpus Christi, Texas. A unit from the 8th Texas engages them and the attack is suspended.

August 19–25, 1862

August 19, 1862 James B. McPherson from Clyde, Ohio is appointed brigadier general, U.S. Army.
August 19, 1862 Colonel John H. Morgan’s Confederate Cavalry raids several spots along the Louisiana and Nashville Railroad near Gallatin, Tennessee.
August 19, 1862 General Horatio G. Wright becomes commander of the reconstituted Union Department of the Ohio. This Army includes units from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and eastern Kentucky.
August 20, 1862 With General Pope protected by the Rappahannock River, General Lee abandons his plan to strike Pope’s Army. Skirmishes between Federal troops from General Pope’s Army and advancing Confederate troops under General Thomas J. Jackson’s erupt near Brandy Station, Raccoon Ford, and Kelly’s Ford, Virginia.
August 20, 1862 Sioux tribesmen attack at New Ulm, Minnesota and are driven back by armed settlers and militia.
August 20, 1862 Horace Greeley’s editorial in the New York Tribune urges President Lincoln to enact emancipation. Greeley’s column is entitled “A prayer of 20 millions.”
August 20, 1862 General Hamilton Bee arrives in Corpus Christi, Texas to organize Confederate resistance to Captain Kittredge’s planned assault.
August 21, 1862 Postage stamps are issued by the Federal Government to help fund the war effort.
August 21, 1862 Northern Commanders found in command of African-American troops are to be executed by order of the Confederate military authorities. Generals David Hunter and John W. Phelps are to be treated as felons, in particular, for their roll in freeing and arming slaves for service in the Union Army. General Phelps resigned, not because of the Confederate threat but because the Federal Government disavowed his efforts.
August 21, 1862 General Bragg positions his force above Chattanooga while the city of Gallatin, Tennessee surrenders.
August 21, 1862 Confederate forces try to cross the Rappahannock River and are defeated with 700 causalities and 2,000 men taken prisoner.
August 21, 1862 Sioux Chief Little Crow leads a raid on Fort Ridgely, Minnesota but is driven off by 180 soldiers and three cannons from Lt. Timothy Sheehan’s Company. The Sioux raiders continue the siege of the fort and await the arrival of more Sioux warriors.
August 22, 1862 General J.E.B. Stuart and 1,500 troops attempt to cross the Rappahannock River, intent on cutting the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, a major supply route for the Union Armies. They occupy the town of Warrenton, Virginia and advance on Catlett’s Station. They are about 11 miles south of the Manassas/Bull Run battlefield.
August 22, 1862 The band of Santee (Sioux) of Chief Little Crow is joined by Sisseton and Wahpeton bands to make a tribal force of about 800. They make another attack on the 180 men at Fort Ridgley but are forced to withdraw, suffering about 100 killed.
August 22, 1862 General Benjamin Butler actively recruits African American slaves into the Union Army at New Orleans.
August 22, 1862 President Lincoln responds to Horace Greeley’s editorial by stating, “My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery.”
August 22, 1862 Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells directs Admiral Goldsborough to assist in the evacuation of Union soldiers from Fortress Monroe, completing the abandonment of the Peninsula by the Northern forces.
August 23, 1862 General J.E.B. Stuart is informed that General Pope is in the vicinity of Catlett’s Station and he advances under cover of a driving rainstorm. Stuart’s cavalry collects about 300 prisoners, General Pope’s personal baggage and uniforms, and military correspondence. General Lee now has information indicating the Union plan to unite Pope’s 51,000 man Army of Virginia with the 100,000 strong Army of the Potomac under McClellan. General Lee does not have a large enough force to counter the combined Union Army. His immediate plan is to attack before they can merge.
August 23, 1862 Confederate General Edmund Kirby-Smith marches into Lexington, Kentucky and then to Richmond, Kentucky, dispersing Union forces massing there.
August 23, 1862 New Ulm, Minnesota is defended by citizens and the Sioux are driven off but the town is burned.
August 24, 1862 General Robert E. Lee boldly divides his Army, detaching General Thomas J. Jackson’s 25,000 men with orders to cut the Orange and Alexandria Railroad thereby cutting off General Pope’s supply. Lee hopes to draw the Northern Army up from near Washington D.C. and into the open.
August 25, 1862 Radical Republicans call for added troop strength in the Union Army, prompting Secretary of War Stanton to authorize the recruitment of up to 5,000 African-American soldiers. Five Regiments are to be formed by General Rufus Saxton, military Governor of the South Carolina Sea Islands.
August 25, 1862 New Ulm, Minnesota is evacuated with 1,000 residents moving to Mankato, some 30 miles away.
August 25, 1862 General Jackson’s corps begins a wide flanking movement around General Pope’s right. General Jackson’s infamous “foot cavalry” marches are repeated when his corps moves 56 miles in two days and arrives behind the Union Army of Virginia. Jackson is now positioned between General Pope’s Army and Washington, D.C.

September 2–8, 1862

September 2, 1862 General Pope orders his Union forces to retreat all the way to the edge of Washington, D.C. Second Manassas (Second Bull Run) concludes, a Union loss.
September 2, 1862 President Lincoln restores General George B. McClellan to command of the Army of the Potomac. The soldiers hail the decision while the President’s Cabinet advises against the move. General Pope is disgraced and without an official command.
September 2, 1862 Generals Robert E. Lee and D. H. Hill combine their forces near Chantilly, Virginia. Combined strength is 70,000, compensating for loss of 30,000 men at Manassas.
September 2, 1862 Union forces abandon Winchester but the Union forces at Spencer Court House in western Virginia are captured by General Albert Jenkins’ Confederate Cavalry.
September 2, 1862 Lexington, Kentucky is occupied by General Edmund Kirby-Smith’s Confederate unit. This prompts Martial Law to be declared in Cincinnati as Confederates are as close as Richmond, Kentucky.
September 3, 1862 General John Pope meets with General in Chief Halleck and lays the Manassas debacle on General Fritz John Porter’s refusal to obey orders and General George B. McClellan’s failure to supply timely support.
September 3, 1862 Confederate forces occupy Winchester, Virginia and engage in skirmishes at Harper’s Ferry, Falls Church, and Bunker Hill. General Edmond Kirby-Smith holds Lexington and moves on to Frankfort, the Provisional Capitol of Kentucky, amid cheering supporters.
September 3, 1862 General Lee probes Washington defensive positions and decides not to attack. He moves toward Leesburg, Virginia on the Potomac River.
September 3, 1862 The USS Essex bombards the city of Natchez, Mississippi. Essex commander William D. Porter receives surrender of the city.
September 4, 1862 The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White’s Ford, Virginia and moves on into Maryland. Union troops evacuate Frederick, Maryland.
September 4, 1862 The Naval Investigating Committee of the Confederate Congress supports Navy Secretary Stephen R. Mallory in spite of the loss of New Orleans and other ports.
September 4, 1862 General Albert G. Jackson briefly moves his Confederate Cavalry across the Ohio River into Point Pleasant, western Virginia.
September 5, 1862 General Pope is officially relieved of command and called to Washington for reassignment. General Halleck combines the Army of Virginia with the Army of the Potomac, all under the command of General McClellan.
September 5, 1862 The Kanawha Valley of western Virginia becomes the site of campaigning by Confederate General William W. Loring.
September 6, 1862 General Pope assumes command of the newly developed Department of the Northwest, which incorporates Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, plus the Dakota and Nebraska Territories. The new command is the military equivalent of political exile. General Pope now deals with Chief Little Crow and the Sioux.
September 6, 1862 General Thomas J. Jackson move his Confederate troops to Frederick, Maryland and occupies the town. Expecting a greeting as liberators, they are received coolly.
September 6, 1862 Federal forces abandon Aqua Creek and leave tons of supplies behind. General McClellan moves the combined army north to defend Washington.
September 7, 1862 The news of General Lee joining General Jackson at Frederick, Maryland, prompts General McClellan to move north of Washington to meet the threat.
September 7, 1862 Union forces occupy Bowling Green, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee. Confederate General Braxton Bragg moves past General Buehl’s Union forces and marches his Army of the Mississippi into Kentucky.
September 7, 1862 The USS Essex receives 14 hits as it tries to pass Port Hudson, Louisiana under command of Commodore David D. Porter.
September 8, 1862 General Nathaniel P. Banks takes over command of the defenses around Washington, D.C.
September 8, 1862 A mounted troop from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas pursues Confederate guerrillas under William C. Quantrill.
September 8, 1862 Confederate successes by the raiders CSS Alabama and Florida (both British built) are countered by a ’Flying Squadron’ consisting of the USS Wachusett, Dacotah, Cimarron, Sanoma, Tioga, Octorara, and Santiago de Cuba. This squadron is assembled in the West Indies and is commanded by Commodore John Wilkes.

September 9–15, 1862

September 9, 1862 The large Confederate Army moves through Frederick, Maryland but General Lee worries about the Union garrison at Harper’s Ferry, western Virginia, cutting his supply/communication lines. He writes Special Order No.191, ordering General Thomas J. Jackson to move directly back into the Shenandoah Valley and Generals Lafayette Mclaws and John J. Walker, taking a different route, all meeting up and capturing Harper’s Ferry. At the same time, General Lee orders General Longstreet to advance toward Hagerstown, Maryland, splitting his army in two.
September 9, 1862 General Samuel P. Heintzelman takes charge of the Union’s defenses south of the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.
September 9, 1862 Skirmishing at Williamsburg, Virginia continues. The Union has the stronger force in this area.
September 10, 1862 General Lee fears Union General McClellan will close in on his position before General Longstreet can meet up with the main part of the Army of the Potomac. Lee dispatches General Daniel H. Hill to South Mountain, to delay any advance, as a precaution.
September 10, 1862 General McClellan discovers that Lee has abandoned Frederick, Maryland and begins to move his Army with caution.
September 10, 1862 Cincinnati, Ohio prepares for General Edmond Kirby-Smith’s raid by posting over 50,000 squirrel hunters, volunteers, and state militia troops.
September 11, 1862 Governor Andrew G. Curtin calls for 50,000 locals to defend Maryland from the Confederates.
September 11, 1862 General Lee’s Army occupies Hagerstown, Maryland. The Union Army continues to move toward Frederick.
September 11, 1862 Confederate raiders under General Kirby-Smith capture Maysville, Kentucky, closer to Cincinnati.
September 12, 1862 Pennsylvania’s treasury and State archives are moved from Harrisburg and Philadelphia to New York.
September 12, 1862 The last Confederate troops in Frederick, Maryland move north as General McClellan’s 75,000-man force arrives.
September 12, 1862 Union General Julius White moves his 2,000 troops from Martindale, Virginia to join the main force at Harper’s Ferry. General Jackson approaches Harper’s Ferry.
September 12, 1862 General Kirby-Smith enters Glasgow, Kentucky.
September 13, 1862 On the campground at Frederick, Maryland, recently abandoned by General Lee’s army, Private Barton W. Mitchell of the 27th Indiana finds a copy of General Lee’s Special Order No. 191 wrapped around three cigars. His commander, Colonel Robert H. Chilton, dispatches this prize through channels to General McClellan. McClellan realizes that Lee’s army is badly dispersed and could be defeated. General McClellan misses the opportunity he has gained by delaying some 16 hours before starting to move in pursuit.
September 13, 1862 Harper’s Ferry is surrounded by a three-pronged Confederate force. General McLaws holds Maryland Heights, General Walker captures Loudoun Heights and General Jackson occupies School House Ridge, cutting off the town. About 23,000 Confederates trap colonel Dixon S. Miles and his 12,000 Union soldiers. General Lee’s order to General Jackson is to take the town in two days or abandon the area and rejoin the badly dispersed army.
September 13, 1862 Union troops at Munfordville, a Missouri brigade under General James R. Chalmers surrounds Kentucky. Colonel John T. Wilder refuses to surrender.
September 14, 1862 General McClellan plans to catch General Lee’s armies before they can regroup. He orders the I and IX Corps to march through Fox and Turner’s passes on South Mountain by 9:00 AM. Confederate forces of Gen. D. H. Hill delay them until after 4:00 PM. General Longstreet re-enforces the Confederates while Union forces of General Ambrose E. Burnside and a corps from General Hooker’s army joins in. South Mountain is finally cleared at 10:00 PM but an opportunity to capture the Southerners from behind as they besiege Harper’s Ferry is lost. Losses run high on both sides.
September 14, 1862 Harper’s Ferry fighting continues with both sides suffering losses and failing to take advantage of strengths. General William B. Franklin over estimates the Confederate force strength and does not attack General McLaws’ position, now in Pleasant Valley. This delay lasts overnight and allows the Confederates artillery to bombard Colonel Dixon’s garrison into submission with few causalities. The delay also means General Jackson must begin his withdrawal to Sharpsburg.
September 14, 1862 Colonel Benjamin F. Grimes and his 1,400 Union cavalrymen find an unguarded road and escape from Harper’s Ferry. This saves both the 8th New York and the 12th Illinois Cavalries. They capture 97 Confederate supply wagons headed to Maryland during the escape.
September 14, 1862 General Don C. Buell, commanding the Army of the Ohio, advances to Bowling Green, Kentucky.
September 14, 1862 Colonel Wilder holds off Confederates at Munfordville, Kentucky by holding two fortified blockhouses. General Chalmers demands surrender and Wilder again refuses.
September 15, 1862 General Robert E. Lee consolidates his armies near Sharpsburg, Maryland and instructs General Jackson to leave the Shenandoah Valley and join him with all haste.
September 15, 1862 At Harpers Ferry, the Confederate bombardment continues with Colonel Dixon A. Miles being killed. General Julius White surrenders the Union garrison at Harper’s Ferry, western Virginia to General Thomas J. Jackson. This is the largest capitulation by Union forces in the Civil War and the largest number of American’s captured until Bataan Peninsula, Philippines in April 1942.
September 15, 1862 General Braxton Bragg besieges the Union garrison in Munfordville, Kentucky and send two corps, led by Leonidas Polk and William Hardee to surround the town. General Simon B. Buckner, who owns a home in Munfordville, ultimately convinces Bragg that no attack should be carried out.
September 15, 1862 General Kirby-Smith advances to Covington, Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, but then retreats to Lexington.

September 16–22, 1862

September 16, 1862 Ebenezer Farrand, Commanding navel officer at Drewry’s Bluff, is issued a vote of thanks by the Confederate Congress. This was for his action in the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff on May 15, 1862.
September 16, 1862 General Robert E. Lee positions his 18,000 man Army along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland and awaits the arrival of General Jackson’s army, moving from their recent victory at Harper’s Ferry. Ambrose P. Hill’s Confederates are still at Harper’s Ferry gathering captured supplies. Harper’s Ferry is 17 miles from Sharpsburg. General McClellan arrives at Sharpsburg late in the evening with about 80,000 men, about double the Confederate strength even with Hill’s unit.
September 16, 1862 General John Pope arrives at his new duty station in St. Paul, Minnesota as the commander of the new Department of the Northwest.
September 17, 1862 The Battle of Antietam begins about 5:30 AM when General Joseph Hooker’s I Corps (12,000 Union Soldiers) clashes with the left flank of General Jackson’s Confederates. The battle is a technical draw but is the bloodiest day of the Civil War, and still ranks as the bloodiest day of any war involving Americans. General Lee’s invasion of the North is halted but casualties are heavy with 12,410 Union soldiers and 11,172 Confederates dead, wounded, or missing.
September 17, 1862 General Braxton Bragg, with some 30,000 Confederates at Munfordville, Kentucky, captures 4,000 Union troops under Colonel John Wilder’s command. Colonel Wilder, with no military training, enters General Simon B. Buckner’s Confederate headquarters under a flag of truce and asks for guidance on what to do. Buckner shows the Colonel around the strong Confederate position and suggests surrender of all Union troops. Wilder lays down his arms and all Union soldiers are captured; then paroled and released.
September 17, 1862 Union soldiers are forced out of the Cumberland Gap with the fall of Colonel Wilder’s detachment at Munfordville, Kentucky. Tennessee is now open to invasion by the victorious Confederates.
September 18, 1862 President Lincoln, grasping for a victory or at least some good news for the Union, judges the Antietam draw as military pretext to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
September 18, 1862 General Lee withdraws to Virginia without any interference or active pursuit by General McClellan’s Army.
September 18, 1862 Confederate General Earl Van Dorn at Vicksburg, Mississippi directs General Sterling Price to meet up with his army at Pocahontas, Tennessee. The plan is to join Braxton Bragg’s force as they move into Tennessee after their victory in Kentucky. Unknown to Van Dorn, Price is being held in place by a Union column, which spoils this plan.
September 19, 1862 General Braxton Bragg occupies Glasgow, Kentucky with his Army of Tennessee.
September 19, 1862 Generals William Rosecrans and Edward O. C. Ord march two columns of 9,000 Union soldiers each southwest of Iuka, Mississippi in an attempt to trap General Sterling Price’s 15,000-man army between them. Cavalry warnings alert General Price and the danger is averted when Price attacks the 11th Ohio Battery, seizing nine cannons. General Ord’s order was to move when he heard shots fired but the curious “acoustic shadow” phenomenon caused him to fail. This claim also caused Rosecrans to be blamed for the loss. Friction between Ulysses S. Grant, Edward Ord, and William Rosecrans continued throughout the war.
September 19, 1862 Skirmishing between General Robert E. Lee’s army and Union forces takes place at Boteler’s Ford. This is where Confederate Artillery Commander General William Pendleton reports to General Lee that all of his 45 cannons are captured. General Jackson is ordered forward to move against General Ambrose P. Hill’s division and block the ford.
September 20, 1862 General Ambrose P. Hill advances at Boteler’s Ford and into Virginia after severe cannon fire with the 118th Pennsylvania forced over a high bluff with heavy losses. General Pendleton’s report of complete loss of Confederate cannons on the previous day was revised to “only four are lost.” Pendleton is restricted to administrative functions.
September 20, 1862 General Bragg intends to encounter the Army of the Ohio commanded by General Don C. Buell as he marches from Munfordville toward Bardstown, Kentucky.
September 21, 1862 General Buell arrives in Louisville ahead of General Bragg’s advance. Union forces reoccupy Munfordville, abandoned by General Bragg.
September 22, 1862 The Emancipation Proclamation, promising freedom for all African Americans currently held as slaves in secession states, is made public. President Lincoln skirts the issue of slaves held in Border States. Reactions to the unveiling of the proclamation range from anger to wild enthusiasm. The major immediate effect of the issuing of the proclamation is to lower the probability that England and France, both countries where slavery has long been banned, will not actively support the Confederacy.
September 22, 1862 Union forces reoccupy Harper’s Ferry.

September 23–29, 1862

September 23, 1862 President Lincoln issues his Emancipation Proclamation to take effect January 1, 1863. The Proclamation liberates slaves in the Confederacy but not in Border States loyal to the Union. The order is carried in the Northern Press.
September 23, 1862 The Santee (Sioux) warriors of Chief Little Crow’s band flee north ahead of 1,600 volunteers and troops of Colonel Henry H. Silby’s command. At nightfall, Little Wolf turns a small band back on the pursuing force. Several of Silby’s volunteers attempt to desert but run into the ambush, alerting the camp. About 269 white hostages are rescued and 2,000 Santees surrender en masse. Some Santee leaders are hung but the band eventually is resettled to the Nebraska Territory.
September 24, 1862 President Lincoln suspends writs of habeas corpus as suggested by Secretary of War Stanton. Military trials for all personnel suspected of encouraging disloyal practices or dodging the draft are now required.
September 24, 1862 Pennsylvania Governor Andrew G. Curtin convenes a three-day conference of Union Governors in Altoona. The conference pledges continuing support of the President and suggests new ideas on how to proceed with the war.
September 24, 1862 The Department of Missouri comes under the command of General Samuel R. Curtis. General Curtis formerly commanded the Department of Southwest Missouri and then the Department of Arkansas.
September 25, 1862 General Don Buell and the Department of the Ohio reach Louisville and expect to confront General Bragg.
September 26, 1862 Admiral Samuel F. DuPont suggests large coal barges attended by coal schooners as a way to aid the refueling of ships and decreases to problem of running enough coal through Southern held shore areas.
September 27, 1862 All men between ages 35 and 45 years are subject to the Second Confederate Conscription Act. Allowance for religious conscientious objectors is recognized but an exemption tax of $500.00 is charged.
September 27, 1862 General Benjamin Butler proceeds with his plan to form an all black unit in New Orleans. The ’Chasseurs d’Afrique’ musters into Union service.
September 28, 1862 Generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price join forces at Ripley, Tennessee in preparation for an advance on Corinth, Mississippi. Van Dorn outranks Price and they remain at odds as Van Dorn is in command.
September 29, 1862 General William “Bull” Nelson is shot dead at a Louisville, Kentucky hotel by his subordinate officer, Union General Jefferson C. Davis, ending a heated debate.
September 29, 1862 The 22,000 man army under General Van Dorn’s command departs Ripley for the all important rail junction at Corinth, Mississippi.

September 30 – October 6, 1862

September 30, 1862 Braxton Bragg concentrates his army at Bardstown, Kentucky, just 30 miles from the Union forces of General Don Bell at Louisville.
September 30, 1862 In Missouri, Confederate Colonels Douglas Cooper and Joseph Shelby, with combined forces of about 6,000 men, are defeated at Newtonia.
October 1, 1862 The Union’s Western gunboat fleet is transferred from the War Department to the Navy.
October 1, 1862 Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart conducts his first cavalry raid into Pennsylvania.
October 1, 1862 The Army of the Ohio, 50,000 strong and commanded by General Don Bell, is split into four columns. One column moves toward Frankfort, the provisional capitol of Kentucky, while the other three concentrate at Perryville. Movement is hampered by incessant heat and lack of water as a drought continues in the Midwest.
October 1, 1862 At Vicksburg, General Earl Van Dorn is replaced by General John C. Pemberton, new commander of the Department of the Mississippi and East Louisiana.
October 1, 1862 President Lincoln arrives at Harper’s Ferry to consult with General McClellan on war strategy.
October 2, 1862 The President has his tent set up adjacent to General McClellan’s Headquarters’ tent in an apparent attempt to spur the General into action.
October 2, 1862 General Buell’s movement to Frankfort is discovered by General Cleburne’s scouts and Confederate headquarters is notified.
October 2, 1862 Generals Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn enter Chewalla, Tennessee, just north of their intended destination of Corinth, Mississippi. This is an attempt to convince Union General Rosecrans that they are marching north to aid General Bragg in Kentucky.
October 3, 1862 Union soldiers capture a Confederate Battery at St. John’s Bluff, Florida and occupy Jacksonville.
October 3, 1862 Generals Earl Van Dorn with 22,000 Confederate soldiers and Sterling Price with 23,000 men attack at Corinth, Mississippi. Formed in a semi-circle facing south, the Confederates face three Divisions of Rosecrans’ men; each supporting a line with carefully sited cannons. As the Southern force attacks, the first Union line drops back, further concentrating their force and resistance stiffens. Heat, lack of water, and fatigue cause the battle to come to a rest early in the evening.
October 4, 1862 Confederate forces pick up the attack on Corinth at 4:00AM with success in the capture of Rosecrans’ Robinson lunette (a fixed battery). Union resistance again stiffens and Van Dorn concedes defeat. Federal loss is 355 killed with 1,473 Confederates dead. Total killed, wounded, and missing is 2,520 North and 4,233 South.
October 4, 1862 At Newtonia, Missouri, Confederate Indians commanded by Colonel Douglas Cooper retreat back to Indian Territory and Southwest Arkansas to regroup.
October 5, 1862 British Prime Minister Lord Nelson and Foreign Secretary Lord Russell learn of the Confederate "defeat’ at Antietam and President Lincoln’s published Emancipation Proclamation. They withdraw plans to support the Confederacy.
October 5, 1862 The Corinth campaign ends with General Van Dorn moving to Holly Springs, Mississippi.
October 6, 1862 President Lincoln prods General McClellan and his Commanding Officer General Halleck to move The Army of the Potomac into Virginia and engage the Confederacy. Halleck’s telegram: “The President directs that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south. Your army must move while the roads are good.” McClellan does not move.
October 6, 1862 Union General Buell and Confederate General Bragg both move near Bardstown and Harrodsburg, Kentucky, sometimes coming close enough to skirmish as they continue to move into the vicinity of Perryville, Kentucky.

October 7–13, 1862

October 7, 1862 The III Corps of the Army of the Ohio suffers in the heat as they move on the Springfield Road toward Perryville, Kentucky. General Charles C. Gilbert orders General Phillip Sheridan’s brigade to take a watering hole held by General Hardee’s Confederates while General Braxton Bragg moves his Army of Mississippi into line for an attack. Bragg is unaware that two more Union Corps of General Don C. Buell’s command are nearby and 32,000 more Union troops are within marching distance.
October 7, 1862 General George B. McClellan issues an order reminding disgruntled officers of their legal obligation to respect civilian authority. This is in reaction to the release of the Emancipation Proclamation, a position McClellan opposes.
October 7, 1862 The CSS Alabama captures and burns the Union bark ’Wave Crest’ and the brig ’Dunkirk’ off Nova Scotia. This begins an active era for the ’Alabama’ and Captain Raphael Semmes.
October 7, 1862 General Gordon Granger becomes commander of the Union Army of Kentucky.
October 8, 1862 James N. McPherson is promoted to major general, U.S. Army.
October 8, 1862 General Don C. Buell deploys his 25,000 Union men for battle near Perryville, Kentucky. General Leonidas Polk advanced to meet the Union force, estimated to be a single Corps, but is forced into a defensive position when he learns he is outnumbered. General Bragg arrives on the front midmorning and orders an attack on the Union right, Gen. Thomas Crittenden’s II Corps. Fighting continues with the Union left being pushed back in confusion before the line is reformed. General Buell remains in his tent behind the line with the “acoustic shadow” phenomenon again preventing battle noise from being heard. Fighting continues until dark when Bragg orders a withdrawal back toward Harrodsburg. Losses are heavy on both sides with Confederate loss at 3,405 killed, wounded, and missing, and Union causalities at 4,211. The Confederates suffered a 20% loss; the Union slightly less.
October 8, 1862 The CSS Alabama captures the USS Tonawanda, a packet ship that is released under bond.
October 9, 1862 As word of the Perryville battle spreads, Kentucky is more strongly in the Union fold and Bragg’s once promising campaign into Kentucky is ended.
October 9, 1862 James Longstreet and Edmund Kirby-Smith are promoted to lieutenant generals, C.S.A.
October 10, 1862 The Confederate Congress is encouraged by President Davis to draft 4,500 African Americans to build fortifications around Richmond.
October 10, 1862 General J.E.B. Stuart begins what becomes his second circuit around McClellan’s Army as he enters Pennsylvania at Black Creek, Maryland. His orders are to destroy the Cumberland Valley railroad bridge near Chambersburg.
October 10, 1862 The Confederate Congress and President Davis promote John B. Hood and George E. Pickett as major generals and William Hardee, Thomas J. Jackson, John C. Pemberton, and Leonidas Polk to lieutenant generals, C.S.A.
October 11, 1862 President Davis modifies Confederate draft law to exempt anyone holding 20 or more slaves. This invites a charge that politicians are waging “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”
October 11, 1862 Chambersburg is captured and held briefly by J.E.B. Stuart. The bridge is not destroyed but 300 Union prisoners are captured and paroled, and 500 horses are taken. The cavalry moves on to recross the Potomac at White’s Ferry near Emmitsburg, Maryland. The entire route covered 180 miles in two days and resulted in 1200 horses seized, all without serious Union resistance.
October 11, 1862 General Bragg continues to retreat southward. Harrodsburg, Kentucky is re-occupied by Union forces.
October 11, 1862 The raider CSS Alabama captures the USS Manchester and finds New York newspapers reporting a U.S. Navy search for the Alabama. The Manchester is burned.
October 12, 1862 J.E.B. Stuart returns to Virginia, completing another famous circuit. Military significance of the raid is minimal but General McClellan is discouraged and becomes more cautious than usual.
October 12, 1862 Oceanographer and commander Matthew F. Maury slips past the Union blockade at Charleston, South Carolina and sails to Britain to purchase warships for the South.
October 13, 1862 The second session of the First Confederate Congress adjourns in Richmond.
October 13, 1862 General McClellan refuses to resume offensive movement. President Lincoln’s telegram; “Are you not being overcautious when you assume that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing?”
October 13, 1862 Generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby-Smith file through the Cumberland Gap back into Tennessee. The Confederate ’high spot’ in Kentucky concludes.

October 14–20, 1862

October 14, 1862 Elections in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Iowa result in Democratic Party gains. Democrats oppose emancipation and propose accommodation of the Confederacy.
October 14, 1862 General John C. Pemberton takes command at Vicksburg, of the Department of Mississippi as well as Louisiana.
October 15, 1862 Captain Semmes aboard the CSS Alabama captures and burns the Union bark Lamplighter off Nova Scotia.
October 15, 1862 Permission is granted for Colonel John Morgan to move through central Kentucky and make raids on Union communications. General Edmund Kirby-Smith is Morgan’s commanding officer.
October 15, 1862 The Army of the Potomac begins to move from Sharpsburg to reconnoiter Harper’s Ferry and then continue on to Smithfield in western Virginia.
October 16, 1862 The Federal militia draft is violently opposed in several Pennsylvania Counties.
October 16, 1862 Braxton Bragg continues to move his Confederate force through the Cumberland Gap with no interference from General Buell’s nearby Union force.
October 16, 1862 The Department of the Tennessee is reactivated by General Ulysses Grant and an immediate campaign against Vicksburg is planned.
October 17, 1862 Colonel Morgan’s 1,800 Cavalry Troops depart from their position southeast of Richmond and head toward Lexington, Kentucky on a second major raid into the area.
October 18, 1862 Morgan’s raid on Lexington nets 125 Union prisoners and drives the Union forces out of the town. Colonel Morgan then cuts across Kentucky, destroying railroad bridges and tracks. This raid lasts 12 days.
October 19, 1862 The defeated Army of the Tennessee completes the move south through the Cumberland Gap, led by General Braxton Bragg. General Buell is criticized for allowing the Confederates to withdraw without a Union pursuit.
October 20, 1862 Union forces on Gallatin Pike near Nashville, Tennessee successfully defend themselves when attacked by General Nathan B. Forrest.
October 20, 1862 Near Bardstown, Kentucky, Confederates capture 81 Union supply wagons.
October 20, 1862 General Grant’s plan of action at Vicksburg, Mississippi, becomes complicated when President Lincoln directs former politician General John A. McClernand to mount an expedition against the same objective. The force McClernand employs is made up of troops from Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa and is named the Army of the Mississippi.

October 21–27, 1862

October 21, 1862 President Jefferson Davis reveals his plan to clear Tennessee and Arkansas of all Union forces. General Theophilus H. Holmes will lead the offensive.
October 21, 1862 The USS Louisville and the troop transport “Meteor” capture Bledsoe’s Landing and Hamblin’s Landing, Arkansas. This in retaliation for guerilla attacks on the vessels. Both towns are burned.
October 22, 1862 Two weeks after the defeat at Perryville, General Braxton Bragg moves the last of the Confederates through the Cumberland Gap. General Buell’s Union force does not impede the move.
October 22, 1862 London, Kentucky is occupied by General Joseph Wheeler’s Confederate Cavalry.
October 22, 1862 The USS Ellis destroys the blockade-runner Adelaide at New Topsail Inlet and the USS Penobscot seizes the British brig “Robert Bruce” off Cape Fear, North Carolina.
October 23, 1862 The CSS Alabama commanded by Captain Semmes continues to be active; this time capturing and burning the Union bark “Lafayette” near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
October 24, 1862 General Don C. Buell is relieved of command of the Army of the Ohio, primarily for his failure to pursue and destroy General Braxton Bragg’s army in their retreat from Perryville, Kentucky. Bragg now has his army near Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee.
October 24, 1862 General William S. Rosecrans takes over Command of the Department of the Cumberland.
October 25, 1862 General George B. McClellan is again urged by President Lincoln to move his Army of the Potomac into some offensive operation in Virginia. McClellan’s response claiming fatigued horses angers the President who responds: “Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that would fatigue anything?” (The Battle of Antietam was September 17th.)
October 25, 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant now has the newly formed XIII Corps added to his Department of the Tennessee.
October 26, 1862 General Samuel P. Heintzelman takes over the command of all Washington, D.C. defenses, replacing General Nathaniel P. Banks.
October 26, 1862 General George B. McClellan begins to move, crossing the Potomac River back into Virginia. The president is “rejoiced” at the news but General Robert E. Lee has ample time to move his forces to occupy large areas between the Army of the Potomac and Richmond, Virginia.
October 27, 1862 General Rosecrans is again promoted, this time to command of the XIV Corps in Tennessee.
October 27, 1862 The CSS Alabama, a British built Confederate raider commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captures and burns the Union schooner Crenshaw near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

October 28 – November 3, 1862

October 28, 1862 The USS Montgomery captures the Confederate steamer “Carolina” off Pensacola, Florida.
October 28, 1862 The Army of the Potomac under command of General George B. McClellan begins to slowly move north toward Warrenton, Virginia. Robert E. Lee falls back toward Richmond and extends his lines to prevent being encircled by the northern army.
October 28, 1862 About 3,000 Confederates, retreating from the Kentucky Campaign, are engaged by 1,000 Union troops at Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Union force is commanded by General Samuel R. Curtis of the Army of the Frontier.
October 28, 1862 The first black regiment to see combat, the 79th Colored Infantry from Kansas, is involved in action at Island Mounds, Missouri.
October 28, 1862 Lieutenant John T. Wood, C.S.N., leads a raid capturing the Union ship “Alleghanian” off the mouth of the Rappahannock River, Chesapeake Bay.
October 28, 1862 The CSS Alabama crew captures and burns the Union bark “Lauraetta” off Halifax.
October 29, 1862 President Lincoln writes to General McClellan, “When you get entirely across the river, let me know. What do you know of the enemy?” He has no comment on the snail’s pace movement that is the usual for the Army of the Potomac under McClellan.
October 29, 1862 The continued bad news from the west causes President Jefferson Davis to write, “Our only alternatives are to abandon important points or to use our limited resources as effectively as circumstances permit.” This is in reaction to the failure of the Kentucky Campaign and the gathering of Union forces ever closer to Vicksburg.
October 29, 1862 Near Petersburg in western Virginia, Federal troops recapture about 200 head of the cattle General J.E.B. Stuart’s Cavalry gathered in their raid near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
October 30, 1862 Emperor Napoleon III suggests that France, Great Britain, and Russia form a mediation board to end the American War. If that failed, he suggested recognition of the Confederate States of America.
October 30, 1862 Command of The Union Department of the South is resumed by General John M. Brannen following the death from illness of General Ormsby M. Mitchell at Beaufort, South Carolina.
October 30, 1862 The U.S. Navy offers a reward of $500,000 for the capture of Confederate Raider CSS Alabama, formerly British “290.” About a dozen Union ships joint the pursuit.
October 31, 1862 General Ulysses S. Grant amasses 30,000 Union troops at Grand Junction, Tennessee in preparation for advance on Vicksburg, Mississippi.
October 31, 1862 Lacking warships, the Confederate Congress authorizes formation of a Torpedo Bureau headed by General Gabriel Rains and a Naval Submarine Battery Service under Lieutenant Hunter Davidson. Together, these two units test and deploy many devices that ultimately sink or damage some 40 Union vessels.
November 1, 1862 General Benjamin Butler issues a new order in New Orleans. This time he restricts movement into or out of the city and frees all slaves of “non loyal” citizens.
November 1, 1862 Leaving Grand Junction, Tennessee, General Grant moves his army toward Holly Springs, an important rail junction. Moving in three columns, the Union force advances along the Mississippi Central Railroad.
November 1, 1862 Captain Raphael Semmes aboard the CSS Alabama leads a successful capture and destruction of the Union whaler “Levi Starbuck” near Bermuda.
November 1, 1862 The USS Louisville captures the Confederate steamer “Evansville” near Island No.36 on the Mississippi River.
November 3, 1862 General James Longstreet’s corps sets up a blocking position near Culpeper Court House, Virginia in front of the Army of the Potomac.
November 3, 1862 Confederate guerrillas attack and capture a Union supply train at Harrisonville, Missouri. This is William C. Quantrill’s band.
November 3, 1862 Assistant Naval Secretary Gustavus Fox is urged by Commander Henry Thatcher to deploy more warships to the Mediterranean to preclude Confederate raids there.
November 3, 1862 A second source of history of the Civil War cites the first black unit activity on this date. They report that the Union landed black troops on the coast of Georgia and Florida. This involved the 1st South Carolina Volunteers commanded by Colonel Thomas W. Higginson. (See the October 28th entry above.)
November 3, 1862 Near Shallotte Inlet, North Carolina, the USS Penobscot runs the British blockade-runner “Pathfinder” aground.

November 4–10, 1862

November 4, 1862 Midterm elections in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin result in significant Democratic Party gains but are offset by Republican gains in California and Michigan. The Republican Party retains control of the House of Representatives.
November 4, 1862 Union troops occupy LaGrange, Tennessee prior to a final push to Vicksburg, Mississippi. General Grant plans to join the rest of his large army currently at Grand Junction, Tennessee, just 5 miles from Lagrange, and descend on Vicksburg.
November 4, 1862 The rapid fire Gatling gun receives first government patents. The weapon was functional by the end of the war but rarely used.
November 5, 1862 President Lincoln orders General Ambrose E. Burnsides to replace General George McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
November 5, 1862 General James S. Nagley leads Union troops against General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry near Nashville, Tennessee.
November 6, 1862 Generals James Longstreet and Thomas J. Jackson are named commanders of the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, respectively.
November 6, 1862 General Grant sends scouts into Mississippi to lead his army toward Vicksburg.
November 6, 1862 Federal forces from Fort Scott, Kansas attempt to disburse or capture guerrillas led by William C. Quantrill.
November 7, 1862 George B. McClellan formally steps down as commander of the Army of the Potomac but is adored by his troops that call him “Little Mac.”
November 7, 1862 The Army of the Mississippi re-organizes with General Leonidas Polk becoming 1st Corps commander and General William J. Hardee, 2nd Corps commander.
November 7, 1862 General Rosecrans begins to move his Army of the Cumberland from Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee. November 7, 1862 - The Ellet Rams are transferred from the War Department to the Mississippi Squadron as urged by Admiral David D. Porter. The move is authorized by President Lincoln.
November 8, 1862 At New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler is replaced by General Nathaniel P. Banks as commander of the Department of the Gulf. Butler makes one last controversial decision by closing all breweries and distilleries, claiming the New Orleans’ celebration of his dismissal could become a riot.
November 8, 1862 The crew of the Confederate raider CSS Alabama captures and burns the Union vessel ’T.B. Wales’ near Bermuda.
November 8, 1862 General Grant begins his move into Mississippi with the ultimate destination of Vicksburg, some 210 miles away.
November 9, 1862 General Ambrose E. Burnside becomes commander of the Army of the Potomac after initially trying to refuse the position. He sends a Cavalry scout unit to Fredericksburg, Virginia where they capture 54 Confederate prisoners and prove the defenses are weak. He plans further offensive moves.
November 9, 1862 Greenville, North Carolina is captured by a joint Army/Navy landing party from the USS Louisiana.
November 10, 1862 General Joseph Hooker takes command of the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac replacing General Fritz John Porter. Porter faces court martial charges for his failure to follow orders at Second Bull Run (Second Manassas).
November 10, 1862 General George McClellan bids farewell to the Army of the Potomac at Warrenton, Virginia.

November 11–17, 1862

November 11, 1862 Near the Florida coast, the USS Kensington captures the Confederate schooner “Course.”
November 11, 1862 Skirmishing and light engagements are reported at Bachelor’s Creek and New Bern, North Carolina and at Huntsville and Lebanon, Tennessee.
November 12, 1862 The Confederate Blockade Runner “Maria” is a victim of the USS Kensington.
November 12, 1862 Major General Joseph Hooker assumes command of the V Corps, Army of the Potomac.
November 13, 1862 General Grant’s forces moving toward Vicksburg occupy the important rail junction at Holly Springs, Mississippi.
November 13, 1862 General Braxton Bragg moves the Confederate Army of Tennessee from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro, intending to unite with General John C. Breckinridge’s force.
November 14, 1862 General Burnside, newly in command of the Army of the Potomac, reorganizes his large force. Generals Joseph Hooker, Edwin Sumner, and William B. Franklin are appointed as Right, Center, and Left Grand Division Commanders. A Grand Division consisted of two Corps. The army starts their move toward Fredericksburg, Virginia in preparation for an eventual move to Richmond.
November 14, 1862 General Braggs’ Confederate Army of Tennessee concentrates at Tullahoma, Tennessee.
November 15, 1862 Confederate Secretary of War George W. Randolph resigns without prior notice.
November 15, 1862 General Burnside’s troops cover about 40 miles in two days in their move to Fredericksburg. The quick move causes the Confederates to question Burnside’s intentions.
November 15, 1862 President Lincoln and several cabinet members escape injury when an experimental “Hyde Rocket” explodes during a demonstration at the Washington Navy Yard.
November 15, 1862 The active Confederate Raider CSS Alabama arrives in Martinique Harbor and is held in a loose blockade by the USS San Jacinto. The USS San Jacinto is the same sloop that overpowered the British vessel “Trent,” capturing Confederate ambassadors John Slidell and James Mason in what was called the “Trent Affair” in October 1861.
November 16, 1862 As the Army of the Mississippi continues to reorganize, Generals Daniel Butterfield and William F. Smith take command of the V and VI Corps, respectively.
November 17, 1862 With persuasion from President Jefferson Davis, General Gustavus W. Smith reluctantly assumes the Secretary of War position.
November 17, 1862 The Union Right Grand Division deploys at Falmouth, Virginia, just across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg, after an impressive march. Robert E. Lee is uncertain where the Union Army is positioned. General Burnside’s advantage of surprise is lost by slow deployment of pontoon bridges and other equipment.

November 18–24, 1862

November 18, 1862 General Edwin Sumner and the Union Right Grand Division continues to occupy the Falmouth, Virginia side of the Rappahannock River directly opposite the heights of Fredericksburg, Virginia. A three-week delay in any activity from the Army of the Potomac allows General Longstreet to arrive with Confederate troops and greatly strengthens the defensive positions.
November 19, 1862 General Burnsides arrives in Falmouth, Virginia. Confederate forces adjust their defense by moving General Longstreet’s corps to Culpeper and cavalry troops of J.E.B. Stuart’s to Warrenton.
November 19, 1862 General Grant probes Confederate lines near Grand Junction, Tennessee as he continues toward Vicksburg, Mississippi.
November 20, 1862 Confederates successfully attack Union Pickets at Bull Run Bridge, Virginia as their cavalry continues to occupy Warrenton and Leesburg, Virginia.
November 20, 1862 General Robert E. Lee arrives in Fredericksburg to personally direct the Army of Northern Virginia.
November 20, 1862 General Bragg shuffles commanders of the Army of Tennessee with the three corps now commanded by Generals Edmund Kirby-Smith, Leonidas Polk, and William J. Hardee.
November 21, 1862 James A. Seddon is named new Confederate Secretary of War just four days after Gustavas W. Smith reluctantly accepted the position.
November 21, 1862 General Burnside demands the surrender of Fredericksburg but the Mayor refuses. Burnside advises the evacuation of women and children.
November 21, 1862 Nathan B. Forrest’s cavalry is dispatched by General Braxton Bragg to disrupt communication lines in western Tennessee.
November 22, 1862 Union Secretary of War Edwin Stanton releases the majority of political prisoners in army custody.
November 22, 1862 General Burnside reverses himself and promises the Fredericksburg mayor that he will not fire on the town. Burnside also states that he expects no hostile action from inhabitants.
November 23, 1862 Lieutenant William Cushing of the USS Ellis directs an armed party to seize two schooners near Jacksonville, North Carolina. The Confederate crews run the captured schooners aground and damage them by burning. Cushing and most of his party eventually escape in one of the damaged schooners.

November 25 – December 1, 1862

November 25, 1862 Confederate Cavalry captures Henderson, Tennessee and conducts a raid into Maryland, near Poolesville, Md.
November 25, 1862 The USS ’Kittatinny’ captures the British blockade runner ’Matilda’ at sea.
November 26, 1862 President Lincoln travels to Aquia Creek, Virginia to confer with General Ambrose E. Burnside. The discussion centers on tactics for the planned assault on Fredericksburg. The president favors a multi-pronged attack while Burnside wishes for a direct assault. The direct attack is chosen after a lengthy debate.
November 26, 1862 General Braxton Bragg completes the movement of all Confederate troops out of Kentucky. General Bragg vows to maintain a strong presence in middle Tennessee near his current location at Murfreesboro.
November 26, 1862 In navel activity, the USS Mount Vernon captures the Confederate blockade runner ’Levi Rowe’ off North Carolina and the USS ’Kittatinny’ seizes a Confederate schooner in the Gulf of Mexico.
November 27, 1862 Federal forces evacuate Rienzi, Missouri and move toward Helena, Arkansas.
November 28, 1862 In skirmish action at Frankfort, Virginia, 100 Confederate prisoners are captured.
November 28, 1862 Union General James G. Blunt leads 5,000 men against 2,000 Confederate Cavalrymen at Cane Hill, Arkansas. In the nine-hour battle, General John S. Marmanduke’s cavalry is driven into the Boston Mountains where General Joseph O. Shelby is positioned with a rearguard detachment. With near equal numbers, the battle breaks off with about 45 causalities on each side.
November 29, 1862 With the Confederates knowing about General Blunt’s small detachment in Arkansas, at least 100 miles from any Union assistance, Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman begins a march overland to attack the isolated column.
November 29, 1862 U.S. Army promotions include Winfield S. Hancock, George G. Meade, John F. Reynolds, John M. Schofield, and Daniel E. Sickles, all promoted to major general.
November 29, 1862 Confederate General John B. Magruder takes charge of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. His first priority is the recapture of Galveston. Men and ships are assembled and two steamers are refitted with bales of cotton as “armor”. These “Cotton Clads” will figure prominently in the planned capture of Galveston, Texas.
November 30, 1862 With the delays in moving pontoons and other bridge equipment, General Burnside finally arrives in Falmouth, Virginia and he can move across the Rappahannock to Fredericksburg. The slow move allows General James Longstreet to move more that 35,000 Southern forces to the heights above the town.
November 30, 1862 The Confederate raider ’Alabama’ outruns the pursuit of the USS ’Vanderbilt’. The ’Alabama’ captures the Union Bark ’Parker Cook’ off the Leeward Islands.
December 1, 1862 The third session of the 37th Congress convenes. President Lincoln presents a plan of compensated emancipation but there is little enthusiasm. He also mentions help for Blacks wanting to be colonized, again without positive reaction for the plan.
December 1, 1862 Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles makes his second annual report to President Lincoln. There are 427 ships in commission mounting a total of 1,577 guns, crews numbering 28,000 men plus 12,000 mechanics and laborers.

December 2–8, 1862

December 2, 1862 Confederate steamer ’Queen of the Bay’ is run aground on Padre Island, Texas by a crew from the USS ’Sachem.’ The sailors retreat 30 miles and eventually rejoin their refloated vessel.
December 3, 1862 Confederate troops destroy 15 locomotives and 100 railcars to avoid capture of the equipment, then flee from Granada, Mississippi as Union troops commanded by General Alvin P. Hovey occupy the town.
December 3, 1862 Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman leads 11,000 men out of Van Buren, Arkansas in bitter weather. They move to attack and destroy General Blunt’s small Union unit at Cane Hill. Blunt becomes aware of Hindman’s approach and telegraphs for help, which is 100 miles away. (See November 28th entry.)
December 4, 1862 General Joseph E. Johnston arrives to coordinate the military operations of Generals Pemberton at Vicksburg, Mississippi and Braxton Bragg at Nashville. This extra level of control further complicates a command structure where-in President Davis controls the army from Richmond.
December 4, 1862 Union forces capture Winchester, western Virginia, taking 145 Confederates as prisoners.
December 5, 1862 President Lincoln pardons many of the Sioux tribesmen slated for execution. A total of 39 are condemned and hanged while 303 are released. The Sioux were detained after the uprising near New Ulm, Minnesota, in August and September 1862.
December 5, 1862 Union Colonel Theophilus L. Dickey and his XIII Cavalry Corps, in pursuit of General Earl Van Dorn near Coffeyville, Mississippi, are engaged by a superior force of Confederates commanded by Generals Mansfield Lovell and Lloyd Tilghman. Colonel Dickey leads a successful withdrawal, suffering ten killed and 63 wounded while capturing 750 Southern soldiers, 200 horses, and 4 wagons.
December 5, 1862 The CSS Alabama captures and releases the Federal schooner ’Union’ near Haiti. Captain Raphael Semmes commands the Alabama.
December 6, 1862 In a march that saved General Blunt’s Union forces in Arkansas and preserved the Union war effort in that state, two divisions from the Army of the Frontier brave bitter cold and rough terrain to move 100 miles in three days. Under General Frances J. Herron, they move from Springfield, Missouri to Fayetteville, Arkansas.
December 7, 1862 President Jefferson Davis contacts General Pemberton at Vicksburg inquiring “Are you in communication with General J.E. Johnston? Hope you will be reinforced in time.”
December 7, 1862 Hartsville, Tennessee is captured by a force of 2,400 Confederate raiders under General Morgan. Union General Absalom B. Moore’s loss is 58 killed, 204 wounded and over 1800 captured.
December 7, 1862 The Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas takes place. Confederate General Hindman sends a cavalry force to distract General Blunt at Cane Hill while he advances on the tired and footsore command of General Herron near Prairie Grove, eight miles from Fayetteville. General Herron is badly outnumbered but he attacks when General Hindman goes into a defensive position. Union artillery is superior and the battle is a hard fought draw. Union loss is 175 dead, 813 wounded, and 263 missing (of 8,000 available) while Confederate losses total 164 killed, 817 wounded, and 336 missing (of 10,000 available to fight). The Confederates of Hindman’s command evacuate and return to Van Buren. Over the next several days, large numbers of Confederate soldiers desert and the Union domination over Missouri and northwestern Arkansas remains.
December 7, 1862 The CSS Alabama captures the steamer ’Ariel’ off Cuba, this time taking 700 prisoners, including 150 U.S. Marines, Commanded by Louis C. Sartori.
December 8, 1862 President Lincoln asks the U.S. Congress to issue an official vote of thanks to Captain John L. Worden for his role as commander of the USS Monitor.

December 16–22, 1862

December 16, 1862 General Ambrose Burnside issues a directive accepting full responsibility for the disaster at Fredericksburg, as the Army of the Potomac re-occupies Falmouth, Virginia. By early 1863, Burnside reverses his position and blames several others.
December 16, 1862 General Benjamin Butler leaves his command at New Orleans and is succeeded by General Nathaniel P. Banks.
December 16, 1862 General Nathan B. Forrest approaches Lexington, Tennessee and Union Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll is dispatched, with 700 men and two cannons, to obstruct Forrest’s raid on the town. Ingersoll must move 28 miles from Jackson, Tennessee to Lexington. Moving at a trot, some veteran soldiers arrive in time to delay Forrest. Only about 200 of the 700 Union soldiers are veterans, the rest hastily trained recruits.
December 17, 1862 President Lincoln is put on the spot when Radical Republicans call for Secretary of State William H. Seward to be replaced by Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. Seward tenders his resignation at this insult. President Lincoln refuses to accept it.
December 17, 1862 General Forrest prepares to enter Lexington, Tennessee with his 2,500 troops while 700 Union soldiers defend the town. Colonel Ingersoll orders all roads and crossings approaching the town destroyed. Somehow, a bridge on the Lower Road is overlooked.
December 17, 1862 General Order No.11, expelling Jews from his theatre of operation, is issued by General U.S. Grant. The order reads “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours of the receipt of this order.” The order is rescinded some weeks later.
December 17, 1862 General Earl Van Dorn, recently disgraced but appointed by General John Pemberton to command a cavalry unit, leaves Granada, Mississippi to move on a Union supply depot at Holly Springs. Taking an indirect route, he passes the town and then turns back, attacking the objective from three directions.
December 18, 1862 General Forrest leads his cavalry troops on Lexington and wins a hard fought, daylong battle. The unburned bridge on the Lower Road is the only weak spot in Colonel Ingersoll’s defense of the town.
December 18, 1862 The Army of the Tennessee is reorganized under General Grant. Generals are: XIII Corps - John A. McClernand, XV Corps - William Tecumseh Sherman, XVI Corps - Stephen A. Hurlbut, and XVII Corps - James B. McPherson.
December 18, 1862 Admiral Farragut suggests to newly arrived Commanding General Nathaniel P. Banks, that the reoccupation of Baton Rouge would be a first step to the eventual campaign against Port Hudson on the Mississippi River.
December 19, 1862 General Grant is alerted to the impending raid on his supply depot at Holly Springs and warns Colonel Robert C. Murphy to prepare.
December 20, 1862 General Sherman’s XIII Corps of 32,000 Union troops moves down river on several transports, from Memphis, Tennessee, toward Vicksburg. In concert with demonstrations by General Grant’s forces, the intent is to hold Confederate forces at Granada and prevent them from reaching Vicksburg.
December 20, 1862 Confederate Cavalry under General Van Dorn have startling success in their raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi and the Union supply depot. Disguising the objective by marching on a roundabout route, Van Dorn enters Holly Springs unopposed and destroys $1.5 million in supplies and captures 1,500 Union prisoners. One of the largest raids on supplies in U.S. history, the loss had an impact on the entire Vicksburg campaign.
December 20, 1862 Commander David D. Porter, aboard the USS ’Black Hawk,’ joins General W.T. Sherman at Helena, Arkansas in a joint operation against Vicksburg.
December 21, 1862 General John H. Morgan departs Alexandria, Tennessee on his third raid into Kentucky. This time he has 3,100 Confederate Cavalry Troops and the prime objective is to cut General William Rosecrans’ supply line from Louisville on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
December 21, 1862 General Grant is forced to move back to Memphis with the loss of his supply depot at Holly Springs. Grant is determined to make supply arrangements that do not depend on the railroad. In the meantime, he also is without telegraph communication with General Sherman. General Sherman is approaching Vicksburg, planning to meet up with Grant’s forces for an attack.
December 22, 1862 General Burnside meets with President Lincoln and they confer on future strategy. President Lincoln downplays the recent losses, including Fredericksburg.

December 30, 1862 – January 5, 1863

December 30, 1862 Colonel John Morgan encounters Union forces near New Haven, Kentucky. He moves on to destroy railroads, bridges, and the towns of Carter’s Depot and Union, Kentucky are captured. Meanwhile, Union General Samuel P. Carter raids Confederate positions in Tennessee.
December 30, 1862 Nathan B. Forrest’s Confederate Raiders encamp at Parker’s Cross Roads, Tennessee with plans to refloat their sunken flatboats at Clifton and cross the Tennessee River to safety. Scouts detect a large Union force nearby and Forrest decides to fight rather than run.
December 30, 1862 The 43,000 men of the Army of the Cumberland under General William S. Rosecrans enters Murfreesboro, Tennessee after a three-day, 30-mile march in bad weather. Rosecrans’ line is established across Stone’s River from the 37,000 men Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. As the two armies settle in for the night, the military bands from the opposite camps “serenade” each other with competing tunes, including the sentimental “Home Sweet Home.”
December 31, 1862 President Lincoln approves the house vote to establish West Virginia as the 35th state.
December 31, 1862 Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart’s latest foray behind enemy lines takes his unit to Culpeper Court House, Virginia where 200 captives and 20 wagons are seized.
December 31, 1862 The Battle of Stone’s River (Murfreesboro) begins. General Bragg launches the first assault and destroys Union General Richard W. Johnson’s division. Union Generals Philip Sheridan, Alexander McCook, and Jefferson Davis fall back slowly giving General Rosecrans time to bring up fresh units. General Bragg fails to deploy four brigades of General John C. Breckenridge’s command and the first day of the battle is a draw. The term “Hells half acre” is used to describe a heavily wooded section of the battlefield named Round Forrest.
December 31, 1862 Union Colonel Cyrus L Dunham’s forces are surrounded by General Nathan Forrest’s Cavalry at Parker’s Crossroads and many Union soldiers are already waving the white flag when Colonel John Fuller’s 3rd Cavalry Brigade arrives from Clarksville and attacks the Confederate line from behind. The Confederates panic, then retreat, leaving cannons, wagons, and equipment behind. General Forrest saves his command by his order “Charge them both ways.” This is a setback for Forrest with heavy losses but he continues to disrupt the Union assault on the important target, Vicksburg.
December 31, 1862 The USS Monitor ironclad sinks in a gale off Cape Hatteras as it is being towed from Hampton Roads to Beaufort, North Carolina.
January 1, 1863 President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation becomes law. “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states, and parts of states, are, and henceforth shall be free” is the core wording. Britain and France are now far less likely to support the South.
January 1, 1863 President Lincoln does not accept General Ambrose Burnsides’ resignation. Burnsides claims that none of the divisional commanders demonstrate faith in his capacity as a strategist or as a leader.
January 1, 1863 At Murfreesboro, General Rosecrans and General Bragg suspend activity while dead and wounded are attended. Rosecrans moves back to a secondary line of defense along Stone’s River and orders Colonel William Beatty to move his troops to high ground directly in front of General Breckenridge’s division on the Confederate right. Bragg believes that he has superior numbers and is confused when Rosecrans does not give up the fight. Both sides expect resumption of combat the next day.
January 1, 1863 General Sherman pulls his forces out of the Yazoo region north of Vicksburg.
January 1, 1863 General John Magruder leads a surprise attack on Galveston, Texas. After an all day hard fought battle in and around Galveston Harbor, the Confederates prevail and Galveston remains in the hand of the South the rest of the war. Several vessels from both sides are sunk and causalities are moderate.
January 2, 1863 General Joseph Wheeler leads his cavalry twice around the Army of the Cumberland at Stone’s River. He takes 1,000 wagons and hundreds of prisoners.
January 2, 1863 General Bragg decides to renew the battle with a frontal attack by Breckenridge’s force, just where the opposition is the strongest. General Breckenridge protests but is ordered to attack. After some early Confederate success, General Rosecrans ordered his artillery chief, Captain John Mendenhall, to mass all 57 cannons on the river’s higher west bank where the cannon fire can sweep the open ground across the river. This major battle is the costliest in causalities of any Civil War battle when calculated as percentage of loss of the fighting force present. Confederate losses were 13,249 of 41,400 present and Union losses of 10,266 of 34,739 present. While a technical Union win, neither army recovered for six months and Bragg’s Army was never again effective or at their former strength. Bragg also suffered criticism and lack of leadership questions. (Some historical sources claim the percentage of loss at 29.9% and the loss at Gettysburg at 30%.)
January 2, 1863 General Nathan B. Forrest’s Cavalry Troops refloat the sunken flatboats and cross the Tennessee River at Clifton.
January 2, 1863 Morgan’s Raiders also move back into Tennessee. Their latest raid shows 1,800 prisoners and over $2 million in destruction of bridges and supplies.
January 2, 1863 New Madrid is again occupied by the Union.
January 2, 1863 General John A. McClernand takes command of the 32,000 man Army of the Mississippi at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana. His corps commanders are General George W. Morgan-I Corps and William T. Sherman-II Corps.
January 3, 1863 Confederates of Bragg’s Army fall back to Shelbyville and Tullahoma, Tennessee. General Rosecrans does not vigorously pursue.
January 4, 1863 Henry W. Halleck, Army General in Chief, orders General U.S. Grant to rescind his December 17, 1862 General Order #11 which ordered the expulsion of all Jews from his department.
January 4, 1863 General McClernand moves 32,000 Federal troops from Millikan’s Bend, Louisiana into Arkansas, without prior clearance. Generals Morgan and Sherman are ordered to capture the Confederate outpost at Fort Hindman, 50 miles up the Arkansas River at Little Rock. Admiral Porter supplied gunboats and transports for this troop movement but Porter disliked McClernand so General Sherman negotiated this agreement.
January 5, 1863 Federal forces occupy Murfreesboro, Tennessee as General Bragg moves his army southward.
January 5, 1863 General Ambrose Burnside again tenders his resignation stating in part “to relieve you from all embarrassment in my case.” President Lincoln again refuses to accept the resignation.

Civil War Timeline — 1862

Weeks in 1862

January 1–7, 1862

January 15–21, 1862

January 22–29, 1862

January 29 – February 4, 1862

February 5–11, 1862

February 12–18, 1862

February 19–25, 1862

February 26 – March 3, 1862

March 5–11, 1862

March 11–17, 1862

March 18–24, 1862

March 25–31, 1862

April 1–7, 1862

April 7–14, 1862

April 15–21, 1862

April 22–28, 1862

April 29 – May 5, 1862

May 6–12, 186

May 13–19, 1862

May 20–26, 1862

May 27 – June 2, 1862

June 3–9, 1862

June 10–16, 1862

June 17–23, 1862

June 24–30, 1862

July 1–7, 1862

July 8–14, 1862

July 15–21, 1862

July 22–28, 1862

July 29 – August 4, 1862

August 5–11, 1862

August 12–18, 1862

August 19–25, 1862

September 2–8, 1862

September 9–15, 1862

September 16–22, 1862

September 23–29, 1862

September 30 – October 6, 1862

October 7–13, 1862

October 14–20, 1862

October 21–27, 1862

October 28 – November 3, 1862

November 4–10, 1862

November 11–17, 1862

November 18–24, 1862

November 25 – December 1, 1862

December 2–8, 1862

December 16–22, 1862

December 30, 1862 – January 5, 1863