Civil War Timeline 1864 - Sherman House Museum

January 5–11, 1864

January 5, 1864 A petition to allow African American citizens to vote is circulated in New Orleans. More than 1,000 signatures were gathered, mostly free blacks but some War of 1812 veterans. The petition was sent to President Lincoln.
January 5, 1864 Federal troops, supported by Apache warriors, kill or capture a few hostile Navaho along the Pecos River in New Mexico Territory.
January 6, 1864 General Joseph Reynolds takes command of the federal forces in New Orleans.
January 6, 1864 General James H. Carleton, Commander of the New Mexico Territory, pleads to the Indian Department for clothing and supplies for the many Navaho prisoners suffering in the cold. Most of the prisoners were rounded up by Colonial Christopher “Kit” Carson’s campaign in the Canon de Chelly region of the wild New Mexico Territory.
January 7, 1864 With mounting Union Army desertions, President Lincoln commutes most death sentences for deserters stating “I am trying to evade the butchering business, lately.”
January 7, 1864 At Warrenton, Virginia, Major John Mosby’s Cavalry routs a large Union force, taking 30 prisoners and 40 horses. January 8,2864-General John H. Morgan is honored in Richmond, Virginia for his raid through southern Indiana and Ohio and his recent escape from the Ohio State Penitentiary.
January 9, 1864 Command of the II Corps, Army of the Potomac is assumed by General Gouverneur K. Warren.
January 9, 1864 U.S. Consul at Le Harve, France, James A. Putnam advises Captain John Winslow that Confederate’s from the CSS Georgia, CSS Florida, and CSS Rappahannock plan to attack his USS Kearsarge as she leaves the port at Brest.
January 11, 1864 Missouri Senator John B. Henderson proposes a joint resolution to the United States Congress to abolish slavery. This is the foundation of the wording of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

January 12–18, 1864

January 12, 1864 The USS Yankee, Currituck, Anacosta, Tulip, and Jacob Bell make up a squadron in support of Union General Gilman Marston as his cavalry moves between the Rapphannock and Potomac Rivers, Virginia.
January 13, 1864 Louisiana and Florida begin to re-establish “civil authority and free government” under the direction of General Nathaniel P. Banks and General Quincy A. Gilmore, at President Lincoln’s direction.
January 13, 1864 President Jefferson Davis advises General Joseph Johnston to maintain his strong position at Dalton, Georgia. He especially warns Johnston to ’not fall back’ by stating “I trust you will not deem it necessary to adopt such a measure.”
January 14, 1864 The Confederate raider CSS Alabama under Captain Raphael Semmes captures and burns the Union vessel ’Emma Jane’ off the coast of Malabar, India.
January 15, 1864 The British Blockade Runner ’Minnie’ is captured by the USS Beauregard off Mosquito Inlet, Florida.
January 16, 1864 General James Longstreet’s I Corps defeats the Union forces of General Samual D. Sturgis at Dandridge, Virginia.
January 17, 1864 The Union IX Corps at Knoxville, Tennessee is placed under command of General Orlando B. Wilcox. He replaces General Robert B Potter.
January 18, 1864 Admiral Davis G. Farragut aboard his flagship ’Hartford’ arrives at Mobile Bay, Alabama. He inspects the Confederate defenses and expresses concern that the CSS Tennessee steam ram could be a problem. He lays plans to destroy it.

January 19–25, 1864

January 19, 1864 Arkansas, a Confederate State with slaves but also many Union sympathizers, approves a new anti-slavery constitution.
January 19, 1864 Navy Secretary Gideon Wells alerts Admiral Porter to warn all Union boat crews to the possibility of “coal torpedoes”, cast iron replicas of coal chunks filled with black powder and powerful enough to explode a boiler.
January 20, 1864 General Frederick Steele, District of Arkansas commander is instructed to schedule free elections to form a free civilian government in Arkansas. President Lincoln issues the order.
January 20, 1864 Federal warships begin routine patrols at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama.
January 21, 1864 At Nashville, Tennessee, Pro-Union citizens gather to urge a constitutional convention to abolish slavery.
January 22, 1864 In the parts of Arkansas that are free from slavery, Isaac Murphy becomes governor by vote of the free-state convention.
January 22, 1864 Recently disgraced General William Rosecrans is picked to replace General John M. Schofield as commander of the Federal Department of Missouri. The command change actually will occur on January 30,1864.
January 23, 1864 President Lincoln’s policy directing all plantation owners to recognize the freedom of former slaves and hire them under rules of contract law is distributed.
January 25, 1864 Fort Sumter comes under Union bombardment yet again.
January 25, 1864 In an effort to improve the defense in middle Tennessee, Federal troops abandon Corinth, Mississippi and consolidate.

January 26 – February 1, 1864

January 26, 1864 U.S. Minister to France William L. Drayton expresses concern over the presence of several Confederate vessels in French waters and France’s inability to act against them.
January 26, 1864 Confederate General James Longstreet’s forces are dislodged from Russellville, Tennessee by Union cavalry commanded by General Samuel Sturgis, part of the IX Corps of General John G. Parke, currently at Knoxville. Confederate cavalry under the command of General William T. Martin then drives General Sturgis back toward Seiverville, Tennessee.
January 27, 1864 General Braxton Bragg, suffering health problems, is summoned to Richmond for conference with President Davis as long as his health permits.
January 27, 1864 Continuous skirmishing between General Sturgis’ Union cavalry and General William Martin’s Confederate cavalry results in Confederate troop losses of 200 and Union losses of about 65 killed, captured, wounded, or missing. Union troops also capture two cannons.
January 28, 1864 In an effort to secure forage for their horses and cattle for beef to feed the Confederate Army, General Jubel Early dispatched Generals Edward Thomas and Thomas Rossiter, (Infantry and Cavalry commanders), to raid Union positions around New Market, Virginia.
January 28, 1864 General George Stoneman is assigned to lead XXII Corps and General John M. Schofield is promoted to command the Department of the Ohio.
January 28, 1864 The skirmishing in Tennessee continues with General William Martin’s forces being defeated near Fair Gardens, Tennessee by Union General Sturgis. Confederate General Bushrod R. Johnson’s infantry then drives General Sturgis’ back to Seiverville, Tennessee and General Martin moves back to Fair Gardens.
January 29, 1864 Confederate raiders led by Generals Thomas and Rossiter successfully overtake a Union wagon train, capturing 80 men, 1,200 head of cattle, 500 sheep, and 95 wagons. The 12th Virginia Cavalry and the 35th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry arrive in support of Thomas and Rossiter to complete this raid.
January 30, 1864 General Rossiter continues his raid, moving from Medley, Virginia to Petersburg where he takes additional Union supplies, including ammunition.
January 30, 1864 At Mattoon, Illinois, men of the 54th Illinois kill a Democrat who refuses to take the Oath of Loyalty.
January 30, 1864 William Rosecrans becomes the commander of the Department of the Missouri.
January 31, 1864 President Lincoln again urges General Nathaniel Banks to institute civilian authority in New Orleans. General William T. Sherman instructs General Banks to cooperate fully with Admiral David Porter as he prepares for the upcoming Red River Campaign in Louisiana. January 31 & February 1,1864-A Confederate Army move to New Bern, North Carolina is coordinated by General George Pickett. Pickett leads about 13,000 troops in three Brigades of General Robert Hoke’s Division. He has 14 cannons, the off shore assistance of Commander John T. Woods’ fleet, and cavalry support. Pickett attacks the Union force of General Innis N. Palmer, inflicting 326 casualties, and driving the Union troops back through New Bern. Two Confederate columns led by General Seth Barton and Colonel James Dearing judge the Union Forces to be too formidable and delay further advance.
February 1, 1864 President Lincoln authorizes a draft of 500,000 men for three years service or the duration of the rebellion.
February 1, 1864 With a possible promotion for General Ulysses S. Grant in mind, the U.S. House of Representatives creates the rank of lieutenant general, U.S. Army.
February 1, 1864 General W.T.Sherman starts to consolidate his army to Meridian, Mississippi by ordering General William Sooy Smith to arrive in Meridian no later than April 10th.

February 2–8, 1864

February 2, 1864 At least 129 Confederate deserters take the loyalty oath to the United States at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
February 2, 1864 At New Bern, North Carolina, General Pickett directs General Robert Hoke to withdraw back to Kinston. Little would be remembered of this failed attack except 22 former Confederate soldiers were caught wearing Union uniforms and were subsequently hanged following a controversial ’drumhead’ trial. ( A drumhead trial is a court martial in the field so named because a drum head is a flat surface always readily available for use as a table)
February 2, 1864 Confederate Commander John T. Woods, aboard one of the boats in the Neuse River near New Bern, directs his crew to capture the USS Underwriter, a side wheel steamer. Failing to get the steam pressure back up, the Underwriter is burned. The Confederate Congress formally expresses thanks to Commander Woods.
February 3, 1864 President Jefferson Davis suspends writs of habeas corpus in cases of spying and desertion.
February 3, 1864 Departing Vicksburg with 26,800 men, General William T. Sherman heads for Colliersville, Tennessee. The ultimate destination is Meridian, Mississippi, 120 miles to the east. Intending to clear Confederate force from northern Mississippi and to devastate the region by destroying railroads, cotton, wheat, and other food, this is a forerunner of Sherman’s “March to the Sea”.
February 4, 1864 Union forces of General James B. McPherson link up with General Sherman at Champions Hill, Mississippi. About 8,000 Cavalry under General William Sooy Smith also join Sherman’s forces. Smith’s cavalry left Vicksburg after the main element departed.
February 5, 1864 Major John Mosby’s attack on the rear guard of a Union unit at Aldie, Virginia results in the capture of several of Mosby’s raiders. One of the Confederates captured is Pvt William E. Ormsby, a deserter from Company E, 2nd Massachusets Brigade who joined Mosby on January 24th. He was summarily tried by drumhead court and executed.
February 5, 1864 General Sherman’s troops approach Jackson, Mississippi after a light skirmish with Confederate forces under General Wirt Adams.
February 6, 1864 The Confederate Congress outlaws the possession of U.S. paper money and the importation of luxury items. Half of all food and tobacco exports must be surrendered to Confederate agents before ships leave port.
February 7, 1864 The Confederacy formally supports French-controlled Mexico and Napoleon III’s government where Emperor Maximilian is the puppet governor. William Preston becomes Confederate envoy to Mexico City. The Confederate hope is diplomatic recognition and military intervention.
February 7, 1864 General Truman Seymour begins a campaign from Jacksonville, Florida to deprive the Confederacy of food, cattle, and grain.
February 7, 1864 General Leonidas Polk abandons Brandon, Mississippi as General Sherman’s large force approaches.
February 8, 1864 Confederate Generals Stephen D. Lee and William W. Loring combine forces at Morton, Mississippi and fall back toward Meridian before the army of General Sherman.

February 9–15, 1864

February 9, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln sits for several photographs during a prolonged session. One portrait taken that day was eventually used on the $5.00 bill.
February 9, 1864 Colonel Thomas Rose led 107 prisoners through a tunnel and out of Libby Prison in Richmond. Rose and 47 others were recaptured, two drowned during the escape and the others reached the freedom of Union lines.
February 9, 1864 Yazoo City, Mississippi is reoccupied by General Sherman’s forces.
February 10, 1864 General William Sooy Smith assumes command of the Union cavalry brigade formerly commanded by Colonel George Waring.
February 10, 1864 The Confederate raider CSS Florida slips out of the harbor at Brest, France after seven months of repair work. Fog and rain provide cover and the USS Kearsage is unable to stop the escape.
February 11, 1864 General William S. Smith, with 8,000 Union troops, departs Collierville, Tennessee and heads for Meridian, Mississippi. His march is delayed by rain, swampy ground, and over 1000 escaped and freed slaves joining the column.
February 11, 1864 A B&O Railroad is damaged by Confederate Guerrillas at Kearneysville, West Virginia causing a Union train to derail. Crew and passengers are robbed of valuables.
February 12, 1864 After an hour long meeting, President Lincoln approves General Huge J. Kilpatrick’s plan to raid Richmond and free Union prisoners.
February 14, 1864 Union troops occupy Gainesville, Florida, led by General Quincy A. Gillmore.
February 14, 1864 Meridian, Mississippi falls without resistance when General Sherman’s large force arrives. Sherman’s Army covered 150 miles in eleven days. All buildings, supplies, railroads, and cotton were destroyed over the next five days.
February 14, 1864 General William S. Smith’s cavalry is overdue in Meridian, Mississippi by several days.
February 15, 1864 The Confederate Congress approves $5 million to fund a sabotage campaign based in Canada and aided by Peace Democrats in the Northern States.
February 16, 1864 At Fairfield, North Carolina, under cover of a heavy snowfall, Union troops capture an entire company of Confederates in their camp.
February 16, 1864 Federal troops begin a major campaign against hostile Indians at Fort Walla Walla in Washington Territory.
February 16, 1864 Soldiers of the 54th Illinois engage in an altercation in Paris,(Edger County) Illinois. The soldiers disrupt local Democrats opposed to continuation of the war.

February 16–22, 1864

February 16, 1864 At Fairfield, North Carolina, under cover of a heavy snowfall, Union troops capture an entire company of Confederates in their camp.
February 16, 1864 Federal troops begin a major campaign against hostile Indians at Fort Walla Walla in Washington Territory.
February 16, 1864 Soldiers of the 54th Illinois engage in an altercation in Paris,(Edger County) Illinois. The soldiers disrupt local Democrats opposed to continuation of the war.
February 17, 1864 The fourth session of the first Confederate Congress adjourns after suspending writs of habeas corpus related to arrest made by the president or congress, expanded the draft to include all white males aged 17 to 50, and allowed hiring of African American slaves as army laborers. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens protested the writ of habeas corpus but was overruled.
February 17, 1864 A Union surprise attack at Piedmont, Virginia results in the capture of 13 of Major John S. Mosby’s partisan rangers.
February 17, 1864 The CSS Hunley submarine attacks the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor by ramming her spar torpedo under the Housatonic’s starboard side. The explosion sinks the Union screw sloop with five sailors drowned. The Hunley signals to shore that all is well but only minutes later, the Hunley sinks with the entire crew lost.
February 18, 1864 The Port of Brownsville, Texas is opened to trade by President Lincoln. The Union Blockade is lifted.
February 20, 1864 John S. Mosby is promoted to lieutenant colonel but his day is ruined when Union troops raid his headquarters at Front Royal, Virginia.
February 20, 1864 The highest percentage loss totals of any battle in the Civil War takes place at Olustee, Florida. Confederate troops under General Joseph Finnegan engage General Truman Seymour’s Union forces. Each side has about 5,000 men. The 7th New Hampshire and the 8th U.S. Colored Infantry are pushed back with heavy losses. The 54th Massachusetts and the 35th U.S. Colored Infantry try to stem the tide but are also overrun. Total losses for the Union are 203 dead, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing(1,861 or 37%). Confederate losses total 93 killed and 841 wounded (934 or 19%).
February 20, 1864 General William T. Sherman abandons Meridian, Mississippi and moves back toward Vicksburg, searching for General William Sooy Smith’s missing cavalry.
February 20, 1864 General William Sooy Smith’s cavalry enters an extended fire fight against Colonel Jeffery E. Forrest’s Confederate cavalry near Prairie Station, Mississippi.
February 20, 1864 Admiral John A.B. Dalgren urges Navy Secretary Gideon Wells to post a reward of $20,000 or $30,000 for capture or destruction of any submarine style craft. This comes after the CSS Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic.
February 21, 1864 Partisan ranger’s of Colonel John S. Mosby kill 15 and capture 70 in an attack on a Union raiding party near Dranesville, Virginia.
February 21, 1864 Cavalry commanded by Colonel Jeffery Forrest continues to skirmish against General William Sooy Smith’s cavalry at West Point, Mississippi. Colonel Forrest’s older brother, General Nathan B. Forrest, sets up an elaborate ambush but General Smith withdraws, believing he is outnumbered. General Smith calls off any effort to join General Sherman.
February 22, 1864 Kansas Senator Samuel Pomroy, believing that President Lincoln cannot win a second term, attempts to have Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase nominated as the Republican candidate. There is a backlash against Chase when the “Pomeroy Circular” is printed. Chase offers to resign from the cabinet but President Lincoln does not accept his resignation.
February 22, 1864 General George Thomas checks the position and size of the Confederate Army around Dalton, Georgia, believing that General Joseph E. Johnston may have sent detachments to either General Polk in Mississippi or General Longstreet in Tennessee. General Thomas dispatches General John Palmer’s XIV Corps through Ringold Pass onto the plains near Tunnel Hill.
February 22, 1864 General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s men attack the rear guard of General Smith’s cavalry and are repelled. Colonel Jeffery Forrest is killed and General Smith retreats to Pontotoc, Mississippi. General Forrest is low on ammunition and does not follow Smith’s retreat.

February 23 – March 1, 1864

February 23, 1864 In light of disclosures in the “Pomeroy Circular”, Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase does not attend this weeks cabinet meeting.
February 23, 1864 In General Sherman’s Military District of the Mississippi, General John A. McClernand receives command of the XIII Corps.
February 23, 1864 Ending the only major campaign into Florida during the Civil War, the battered column of General Truman Seymour returns to Jacksonville. Seymour left Hilton Head, South Carolina by boat on February 5th, arrived in Jacksonville on February 8th, advanced inland to occupy Gainesville on February 14th, and took a beating at Olustee, Florida on February 20th.
February 23, 1864 Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston is forced to move further south to higher ground at Dalton, Georgia by a force of Union troops from the XIV Corps under General John D. Palmer.
February 24, 1864 General Palmer continues to skirmish with Confederates near Tunnel Hill, Georgia, testing the strength of Johnston’s Army. The Confederates take a strong position at Buzzard’s Roost, near Tunnel Hill.
February 24, 1864 General Braxton Bragg become de facto chief of staff when President Davis appoints him as Chief of Operations at Richmond.
February 25, 1864 After encountering heavy resistance at Buzzards Roost Gap, General George Thomas confirms that General Johnston’s Army of the Tennessee is now firmly entrenched around Dalton. Continued pressure applied by General Palmer’s XIV Corps and other units lead to the recall of General Thomas J. Hardee’s corp previously dispatched to aid General Polk in Mississippi.
February 26, 1864 President Lincoln commutes all death sentences for desertion. Guilty deserters will be imprisoned for the duration of the war.
February 26, 1864 Following the ill-fated Meridian expedition, General William Sooy Smith arrives in Colliersville, Tennessee, claiming the freeing of 3,000 slaves, burning of 2,000 bales of cotton, capture of 200 Confederates, and causing 314 Confederate losses(killed, wounded, missing). General Sherman dismisses the effort as “unsatisfactory”.
February 27, 1864 Andersonville Prison near Americus, Georgia receives its first Union captives. The sixteen and one-half acre stockade became known as the worst prison in the South, gaining infamy.
February 28, 1864 Plans to free Union prisoners from Libby Prison in Richmond are approved by President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton after they received reports of very poor conditions. General Hugh J. Kilpatrick prepares for an extended raid using 3,500 cavalry troops. Kilpatrick is supported by General George Custer’s diversion in Albemarle County, Virginia and General John Sedgwick’s VI Corps creating another diversion at Madison Court House. Admiral John Dahlgren’s son Colonel Ulric Dahlgren is on General Kilpatrick’s staff.
February 29, 1864 The U.S. Congress formally revives the rank of lieutenant general at the request of the president.
February 28, 1864 Despite inclement weather, General Kilpatrick rides toward Richmond. He plans to split his forces and attack Richmond from two directions.
March 1, 1864 President Lincoln nominates General Ulysses S. Grant for the rank of lieutenant general.
March 1, 1864 General Kilpatrick calls off the raid on Richmond claiming high water in the James River, a sharp attack by Confederate General Wade Hampton’s Cavalry, and heavy resistance from Confederate force in Richmond. Kilpatrick was within two and one-half miles of Richmond when he turned back. Richmond was lightly defended by civilians and invalids, according to reports.

March 2–8, 1864

March 2, 1864 Ulysses S. Grant is elevated to the rank of lieutenant general by the U.S. Senate.
March 2, 1864 In King & Queen County, Virginia, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren’s 100 man Union detachment is ambushed. Colonel Dahlgren is killed and 92 of his men are captured. The Confederates recover papers outlining a plot to burn Richmond and assassinate President Jefferson Davis. The U.S. Government and Union General George Meade deny the scheme.
March 2, 1864 At the mouth of the Red River in Louisiana, Admiral David Porter’s Mississippi Squadron begins to move toward Shreveport and east Texas. One worry for Porter is the decreasing water levels on the river. The squadron proceeds as planned.
March 3, 1864 General Grant is ordered to Washington D.C. for an official promotion ceremony.
March 4, 1864 Andrew Jackson is promoted to Tennessee Governor by the U.S. Senate. Pro-Union governor Michael Hahn is sworn into office at New Orleans, Louisiana.
March 4, 1864 Advanced units of General Sherman’s army begins to arrive back at Vicksburg after the Meridian Campaign. There are about 5,000 slaves and 3,000 draft animals with the Army, all having traveled 360 miles since leaving Meridian on February 22nd.
March 5, 1864 All Southern vessels are force to donate half of their cargo capacity to government shipments as supplies were running short in the field. This move could also reduce wartime profiteering by the ship owners.
March 6, 1864 Confederate gunboats fire on Union forces occupying Yazoo City, Mississippi, forcing the Union troops to vacate the city.
March 6, 1864 General Andrew J. Smith is appointed to lead Army elements in the Red River expedition. General Sherman instructs General Smith to fully cooperate with Admiral Davis D. Porter in this joint operation.
March 6, 1864 On the North Edisto River, North Carolina, a Confederate torpedo boat rams the USS Memphis twice but the spar torpedo fails to detonate. The spar entered the Memphis eight feet below the water line but the vessels was able to float away.
March 7, 1864 General Longstreet was again urged to resume offensive operations in Kentucky or Tennessee by President Davis.
March 8, 1864 In a White House Ceremony, General Grant accepts the high honor of being the only general to attain such a lofty rank and the first ever Four Star General. (George Washington retired as a lieutenant general with ’Three Stars’ after the Revolutionary War and therefore was outranked by later four and five star generals. This was repaired on October 11, 1976 when Washington was posthumously promoted “General of the Armies of the United States” with no officer of the United States Army outranking Washington on the Army list.)
March 8, 1864 A Union expedition led by General Grenville Dodge to Moulton and Courtland, Alabama nets supplies, ammunition, and provisions. General Franz Sigel is ordered to clear Confederate units out of the Shenandoah Valley immediately after he was appointed commander of the new Department of West Virginia.
March 8, 1864 About 100 Copperheads (Northeners sympathetic to the Confederacy) kill five Union soldiers on furlough in Charleston, Illinois.

March 9–15, 1864

March 9, 1864 Recently promoted General Ulysses S. Grant succeeds General Henry W. Hallack as army general in chief. Hallack becomes Grant’s chief of staff. General George Meade remains as the commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac, currently located near Brandy Station, Virginia.
March 9, 1864 General Sherman is put in command of all Union armies in the West.
March 9, 1864 In retaliation for the ambush and killing of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, Union Cavalry led by General Hugh Kilpatrick burn a grain mill and other property near Carlton’s Store in King and Queens County, Virginia.
March 10, 1864 General Grant completes a conference with General Meade and departs for Nashville(by rail)for meetings with General Sherman.
March 10, 1864 A large Union force pushes skirmishers of Colonel Mosby’s Raiders back through Charlestown and Kabletown, Virginia.
March 10, 1864 General Nathaniel Banks plans to start the Red River expedition by moving 10,000 men commanded by General Andrew Smith down the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Red River. These troops are on loan from General Sherman’s force at Vicksburg. General Frederick Steele leaves Little Rock to advance a column of troops on Shreveport from the west. By seizing Shreveport, he can move on the Texas interior and stop Confederate supplies from moving eastward.
March 11, 1864 General Banks is delayed in leaving New Orleans as he must turn over military leadership of Louisiana to the newly appointed Governor, Michael Hahn. General Smith departs as the unit commander with his troops aboard Army transports.
March 12, 1864 Admiral Porter leads his armada of 13 ironclads, four tinclads, and four wooden gunboats up the Red River, Louisiana. He pauses to bombard Fort De Russy, Louisiana into submission.
March 13, 1864 After receiving a signed petition from African Americans in Louisiana asking for the right to vote, President Lincoln encourages Governor Hahn to draft a new state constitution.
March 14, 1864 Federal gunboats remain behind the rest of Admiral Porter’s fleet to further reduce Fort De Russy. When General Smith’s forces arrive, the fort is seized along with 325 prisoners and 12 cannons.
March 15, 1864 Newly elected Governor Hahn of Louisiana receives power to form a civilian authority. The powers previously reserved for military control slowly revert back to politicians. Similar authority transfer was the basis of much of Southern reconstruction after the war ended.

March 16–22, 1864

March 16, 1864 After a landing party from the USS Osage under Commander Thomas O. Selfridge occupied Alexandria, Louisiana, General Andrew J. Smith’s Union forces strengthened the occupation with support of nine gunboats. This is part of the naval move to Shreveport by Admiral David Porter.
March 16, 1864 Confederate Colonel John M. Hughs led a cavalry attack on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad near Tullahoma, Tennessee with 60 Union soldiers captured, several trains destroyed, and 20 African Americans killed.
March 16, 1864 Captain Raphael Semmes drops anchor at Capetown, South Africa to take on supplies. The CSS Alabama Confederate Raider has been repaired and is now ready to sail.
March 17, 1864 General Nathaniel Banks fails to rendezvous with General Andrew Smith at Alexandria due to the political leadership exchange in New Orleans.
March 17, 1864 In a meeting at Nashville, General Grant announces that “Headquarters will be in the field and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac”.
March 18, 1864 Arkansas voters ratified a new constitution which included the abolition of slavery.
March 18, 1864 The Military Division of the Mississippi combines all Union western army units and General William T. Sherman is formally appointed as commander.
March 19, 1864 The Georgia legislature grants President Jefferson Davis a vote of confidence. They also suggest peace talks be arranged with Washington D.C. following the next significant Confederate victory but stipulate “only Southern independence”.
March 21, 1864 Nevada and Colorado statehood legislation is signed by President Lincoln. Nevada becomes a state on October 31,1864; Colorado statehood is ratified August 1,1876.
March 21, 1864 Henderson Hill, Louisiana is the site of Union cavalry defeating Confederate troops and taking 250 prisoners, 200 horses, and four cannon. The Union Cavalry was led by General Joseph A. Mower, disrupting Confederate scouting and reconnaissance.
March 22, 1864 General Lew Wallace is named commander of the Middle Department headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
March 22, 1864 As General Frederick Steele departs Little Rock for the expedition on the Red River, General Nathan Kimball is named commander of the Union Department of the Arkansas.

March 23–29, 1864

March 23, 1864 The Union I Corps is discontinued and absorbed into the V Corps, commanded by General Gouverneur K. Warren. I Corp had been under General George Sykes since Malvern Hill in June of 1862.
March 23, 1864 General Grant returned to Washington from his meeting in Nashville with General Sherman and begins to implement his plan to advance four different armies simultaneously across the South.
March 23, 1864 General Frederick Steele cites chronic shortages of food and fodder for troops and pack animals as the reason for delaying the departure of his 10,400 Union troops out of Little Rock, Arkansas. He is to march east and link up with the Red River expedition being led by General Nathaniel Banks. He also was hesitant due to poor roads and the threat of Confederate Cavalry raids.
March 24, 1864 General Winfield S.Scott returns to action for the first time since his injuries at Gettysburg. He is not fully recovered but resumes command of the II Corps, Army of the Potomac.
March 24, 1864 The Union III Corp of the Army of the Potomac is disbanded and troops are folded into the II and VI Corps.
March 24, 1864 A surprise raid by General Nathan B. Forrest captures Union City, Tennessee then moves on to Paducah, Kentucky, capturing Paducah the following day.
March 24, 1864 General Nathaniel P. Butler arrives at Alexandria, Louisiana, a full week behind schedule. He was delayed in starting the Red River expedition due to the need to establish a civilian government in New Orleans. He discovers that General Andrew J. Smith’s 10,000 troops have to re-joined General Sherman’s Army no later that April 25th, and that water levels on the Red River continue to fall. While Admiral Porter may not be able to navigate the river due to low water, Butler orders the campaign to continue.
March 25, 1864 The Army of the Potomac sees another staff change when General David Gregg replaces General Alfred M. Pleasonton as commander of the cavalry.
March 25, 1864 At Paducah, Colonel Stephen G. Hicks refuses to surrender to General Forrest and withdraws into Fort Anderson. Forrest decides not to attack the strong fortification but Colonel Albert Thompson charges at the head of his 3rd and 7th Kentucky Cavalry. They are repulsed with bloody losses, including Colonel Thompson being killed. General Forrest does collect about 500 horses from area civilians.
March 26, 1864 As Union forces approached Paducah, Kentucky, General Forrest retreats to Fort Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River.
March 27, 1864 General Grant rejoins the Army of the Potomac now at Culpeper Court House, Virginia.
March 27, 1864 Large numbers of Northern prisoners begin to arrive at Camp Sumter in Andersonville, Georgia.
March 28, 1864 General Banks advances from Alexandria, Louisiana to Shreveport.
March 28, 1864 A violent anti-war riot in Charleston, Illinois results in gunfire between Union soldiers home on furlough and Knight’s of the Golden Circle (Copperheads) in town to hear anti-war congressional candidate John R. Eden’s speech. Six are killed and 20 injured. After extended prison time, President Lincoln grants clemency to the 29 Democrats jailed during the riot.
March 28, 1864 Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells urges Commander John C. Carter to have the USS Michigan ready to sail as soon as the Lake Erie ice breaks. Rumors of a Confederate takeover of the USS Michigan to raid and release Confederate Prisoners held on Johnson’s Island at Sandusky, Ohio have been received.
March 29, 1864 General George Meade is convinced by President Lincoln to drop his Court of Inquiry demand concerning newspaper coverage of Meade’s performance at Gettysburg.
March 29, 1864 Union forces under General Banks reach Natchitoches, Louisiana and move inland to a more direct route to Shreveport. Admiral Porter has been slowed by low water and has lost a vessel. Banks move inland takes his column away from Admiral Porter’s gunboats and the protection the gunboats provide.

March 30 – April 5, 1864

April 1, 1864 General John M. Taylor fails to arrive at Arkadelphia, Arkansas with cavalry reinforcements in time to assist General Steele who departs for the Red River. With scant rations, men and pack animals are put on half rations. Confederate Cavalry under Generals Joseph Shelby and John S. Marmaduke continue to shadow and slow Steele’s column.
April 2, 1864 General Shelby’s Confederate cavalry overtake the Union rear guard unit at Okolona, Arkansas, taking 160 prisoners.
April 3, 1864 After encountering Confederate resistance, General Nathaniel Banks and his Army reach Grand Encore, Louisiana where they meet several army transports. The USS Eastport, Cricket, Mound City, Chillicothe, Pittsburg, Ozark, Neosho, Osage, Lexington, Fort Hindeman, and Louisville are carrying General Andrew Smith’s corps. The combined armies prepare to move to attack Shreveport.
April 3, 1864 Admiral Porter’s 13 gunboats and 30 transports have difficulty at the Alexandria Rapids due to low water levels and may not be able to continue to Shreveport.
April 4, 1864 The French policies of Napoleon III toward Mexico cause the U.S. House of Representatives to protest, resolving never to recognition a Monarch in the Western Hemisphere. America extended support of rebel forces under President Benito Juarez. (Ferdinand Maximilian became the second Emperor of Mexico on April 10,1864 and was ruler until he was executed on June 19,1867)
April 4, 1864 The Army of the Potomac continues to reorganize. The XI and XII Corps are consolidated under General Joseph Hooker as the new XX Corps. General Jacob D. Cox takes charge of the XXIII Corps, and General Philip H. Sheridan succeeds General David M. Gregg as calvary commander.
April 4, 1864 General John M. Schofield takes charge of the Union Army of the Tennessee’s XXIII Corps. Army of the Tennessee commander is General James McPherson. He received command when General W.T. Sherman was promoted on March 12, 1864.

April 6–12, 1864

April 6, 1864 At New Orleans, the Louisiana legislature adopts a new state constitution abolishing slavery.
April 6, 1864 General Nathaniel Banks continues his march with units strung out on a narrow road some distance from the Red River. He is rapidly approaching General Richard Taylor’s Confederate forces at Mansfield.
April 7, 1864 General Longstreet’s Confederate I Corps is ordered to return to the Army of Northern Virginia. They depart Greeneville, Tennessee.
April 8, 1864 The 13th Amendment to the Constitution is approved by the U.S. Congress on a 38 to 6 vote. Slavery is abolished in all territories controlled by the United States.
April 8, 1864 The 18,000 man Union army under General Banks confronts General Taylor’s 8,000 Confederates at Sabine Crossroads near Mansfield, Louisiana. Bank’s unit is strung out nearly single file while Taylor’s troops are behind field works. Mansfield proves to be the decisive battle of the Red River Campaign and the largest battle waged in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. Taylor’s Division Commander General Alfred Moulton is killed along with about 1000 other Confederates. Banks losses are severe with 2,235 killed, missing, or wounded plus 20 cannons, 200 wagons, 1,000 draft animals lost.
April 9, 1864 The Union strategy for the final push of the war, with five major components, is announced by General Grant. General Nathaniel Banks will capture Mobile, General William Sherman will seize Atlanta, General Fritz Seigel will advance down the Shenandoah Valley destroying the food source, General Benjamin Butler will descend on Richmond, and General George Meade will follow General Robert E. Lee where ever he goes.
April 9, 1864 General Banks consolidates his scattered force and is joined by reinforcement from General Andrew Smith’s XVI Corps. Near Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, the Northern forces await General Taylor’s appearance. Taylor’s troops mount an attack around 4:30 PM but are forced to pull back by nightfall. This tactical victory is the Union’s last battle of the Red River Campaign.
April 10, 1864 The Red River Campaign grounds are abandoned as General Banks withdraws to Grand Ecore, Louisiana and General Taylor is ordered back to Mansfield by General Edmund Kirby Smith.
April 10, 1864 Confederate troops south of the Tennessee-Georgia line capture Mary Edwards Walker, the U.S. Army’s only woman surgeon. She is released about four months later.
April 10, 1864 Admiral Porter reaches Springfield Landing, Louisiana, 30 miles below Shreveport. The sunken Confederate steamer ’New Falls City’ blocks the river. Falling water levels and news of the defeat at Sabine Crossing hinders further progress.
April 11, 1864 Admiral Porter works to move his gunships over the Alexandria Rapids and continue upstream. The majority of his Squadron becomes trapped upstream due to the dipping water levels.
April 11, 1864 Arkansas inaugurates the pro-Union administration of Dr. Isaac Murphy at Little Rock.
April 12, 1864 1,500 Confederate cavalry troops surround Fort Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River. Fort Pillow, an open design earthwork with little protection, is defended by 557 Union soldiers, 262 of them African Americans, all commanded by Major Lionel F. Booth. General James R. Chambers leads the Confederate cavalry charge and seizes the outer works and cannons. Confederate reinforcements arrive mid morning with General Nathan B. Forrest who concludes the fort cannot be defended. Major Booth is killed and successor Fort Pillow commander Major William F. Bradford refuses Forrest’s surrender demand. The earthwork fort soon falls with 231 Union soldiers killed, 100 wounded, and 226 captured. Only 58 African American troops survived and Forrest is accused of a massacre of black soldiers. “Remember Fort Pillow” became a rallying cry for black troops.
April 12, 1864 Admiral David Porter moves the Mississippi Squadron and several transport back down the Red River and they engage Southern troops at Blair’s Landing, Louisiana. Confederate General Thomas Green, commander of cavalry and artillery units on shore and is one of the first of about 300 Confederates killed. Interesting side note: the USS Osage crew successfully uses a jerry-rigged periscope to direct naval fire.

April 13–19, 1864

April 13, 1864 The USS Rachel Seaman captures the British blockade runner Maria Alford on the Mermentua River, Louisiana and the USS Nyanza captures the Confederate schooner Mandoline at Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana.
April 14, 1864 The Manhattan Fair in New York City raises $1 million for the Sanitary Commission, a relief organization for the U.S. Army. President Lincoln was guest speaker.
April 14, 1864 Confederate cavalry troops commanded by General Abraham Buford read in the local newspaper that General Forrest’s recent raid missed 140 army horses concealed in a foundry in Paducah, Kentucky. Buford moves on the lightly guarded foundry and takes the horses when the Union guards retreat to Fort Anderson.
April 15, 1864 Tennessee Governor Andrew Jackson endorses the principles of emancipation in a speech at Knoxville.
April 15, 1864 The Federal gunboat USS Eastport grounds itself on shore after striking a Confederate torpedo in the Red River near Grand Ecore, Louisiana. Repair are made.
April 16, 1864 The U.S. Army reports 146,634 Confederate prisoners of war under Army control.
April 17, 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant suspends all prisoner exchanges severely restricting the number of trained soldiers in the South.
April 17, 1864 General Frederick Steele dispatched a foraging expedition to Camden, Arkansas in search of corn. The bulk of the 695 soldiers involved are from the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers traveling with two cannons and 198 wagons. En route, and additional 475 men join the expedition.
April 17, 1864 About 7,000 Confederate’s under General Robert Hoke attack at Plymouth, North Carolina where 2,834 Union infantry, cavalry, and artillery are housed. The Union post is further supported by offshore batteries.
April 18, 1864 General Hoke continues the attack and captures Fort Wessels. The Union forces resist strongly and move to Fort Williams. Hoke’s success depends on the arrival of the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle.
April 18, 1864 Confederate Generals John S. Marmaduke and Samuel B. Maxey combine forces and attack General Steele’s small Union camp at Poison Springs, Arkansas. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer troops resist but are far outnumbered and eventually yield. General Marmaduke orders cannon fire but is overruled by General Maxey. General Maxey secures the wagons. Poison Springs is a significant Union defeat. Most of the Union dead are African American volunteers captured in battle and slaughtered by Missouri, Arkansas, and Choctaw Confederates.
April 18, 1864 The CSS Albemarle departs Hamilton, North Carolina and sails down the Roanoke River toward the beseiged Plymouth. Engine trouble and steering problems slow progress.
April 19, 1864 The huge Confederate steam ram CSS Albemarle attacks at Plymouth, North Carolina, sinking the USS Southfield, killing ship commander C.W. Flusser. The Union vessels draw off and the Confederates control the water approaches to Plymouth.

April 20–26, 1864

April 20, 1864 Confederates capture Plymouth, North Carolina. Led by General Robert F. Hoke, a three day siege ended with the capture of 2,800 Union soldiers and a large store of supplies. Key to the Confederate success was the arrival of the Confederate ram, CSS Albemarle.
April 20, 1864 Due to reports of mistreatment of Union prisoners in Southern prison camps, the U.S. Government reduced rations to prisoners held in the North.
April 20, 1864 General James H. Wilson’s Union cavalry captures Macon, Georgia.
April 20, 1864 General Frederick Steele receives some supplies from Pine Bluff but is soon confronted by General Edmund Kirby-Smith’s forces near Camden, Arkansas. The Confederates maneuver to come between Steele and the capital at Little Rock.
April 21, 1864 General Nathaniel Banks withdraws from Grand Ecore, Louisiana back to Cloutiersville while pursued by Confederate cavalry.
April 21, 1864 The Federal gunboat USS Eastport, repaired and re-floated, moves down the Red River. Over the next five days, the vessel grounds itself eight time to make further repairs. The make only about 60 miles in five days.
April 22, 1864 The first coins to have the “In God we trust” inscription are minted per act of congress.
April 22, 1864 General Leonidas K. Polk confers by mail with President Jefferson Davis about how to treat African American prisoners. President Davis writes “If the negroes are escaped slaves, they should be held safely for recovery by their owners. If otherwise, inform me”.
April 23, 1864 During General Banks’ retreat from Grand Ecore, Louisiana, the ford at Cane River Crossing is contested. As the only fordable point on the river, Confederate cavalry led by General Hamilton Bee seize the only ferry. Union forces counterattack and force General Bee to withdraw. General Bee is criticized for his inept operation and the Union forces lay a pontoon bridge to escape. Light losses on both sides.
April 23, 1864 General Steele has a wagon train on the way to Pine Bluff to obtain supplies. Confederate General James F. Fagan sends a large cavalry force to intercept.
April 24, 1864 General Steele’s wagon train continues to Pine Bluff, Arkansas guarded by 500 Iowa cavalrymen. They are accompanied by about 300 escaping former slaves. Confederate forces are nearby.
April 25, 1864 General Nathaniel Banks forces begin to straggle into Alexandria, Louisiana, ending the ill-fated Red River Campaign.
April 25, 1864 Confederate troops under General Edmond Kirby-Smith capture 211 of General Steele’s wagons at Mark’s Mills, Arkansas. About 1,700 Union prisoners are taken. Enraged Southerners murder 150 African-American slaves. General Steele abandons the campaign.
April 25, 1863 The CSS Alabama commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes captures the Federal vessel ’Rockingham’ west of the Cape Verde Islands and sinks the Rockingham with cannon fire. The CSS Alabama has undergone an overhaul and is active after several months of slow action.
April 26, 1864 Following the fall of Plymouth, North Carolina, General Ulysses S. Grant orders troops to evacuate Washington, North Carolina.
April 26, 1864 General Banks enters Alexandria, Louisiana and awaits the arrival of Admiral Porter’s gunboat fleet. When the Mississippi Squadron arrives, they have a running fight while passing shore batteries. The USS Cricket has heavy pump damage and the pump steamer ’Champion No 3’ is crippled, drifts and is captured. The badly damaged gunboat USS Eastport is scuttled after being grounded yet again.
April 26, 1864 General Steele slips his forces past the Confederate troops of Generals Kirby-Smith and Sterling Price and march back to Little Rock.

April 27 – May 3, 1864

April 27, 1864 The Confederacy asks Canada for assistance in negotiations with the U.S. Government. President Davis sends a special commissioner to Canada.
April 27, 1864 The CSS Alabama, a Confederate Raider under Captain Raphael Semmes, captures and burns the Federal bark ’Tycoon’ in Brazilian waters. It turns out to be the last ship captured by the CSS Alabama.
April 27, 1864 General Steele’s 13,500 men escape Camden, Arkansas and head for Little Rock. They are 70 miles behind Confederate lines, low on supplies, mired in mud, outnumbered, and Confederates are in pursuit. General Edmond Kirby-Smith lays a pontoon bridge over the Ouachita River, losing several hours, and Steele gains some distance ahead of the Confederates.
April 27, 1864 Admiral Porter’s second attempt to run past Confederate batteries on the Red River at Alexandria, Louisiana results in the loss of the pump steamer “Champion #3” and damage to the USS Hindman and the USS Juliet. The USS Neosho arrives from downstream to assist. The three vessels proceed below Alexandria.
April 28, 1864 Union forces pound the remnants of Fort Sumter with 510 additional rounds.
April 28, 1864 General Egbert B. Brown orders Union forces in Johnson County, Missouri, to pursue Confederate Guerrilla William C. Quantrill.
April 28, 1864 Receding water levels cause Admiral Porter to consider scuttling his squadron’s three remaining vessels to prevent their capture. His message to Navy Secretary Gideon Wells states “you may judge my feelings at having to perform so painful a duty”.
April 29, 1864 Duty fees on all goods coming into the United States were increased by 50% to help fund the war.
April 29, 1864 General Steele’s Union column reaches the Saline River at Jenkin’s Ferry and prepares to cross on a pontoon bridge. Confederates in pursuit are close behind.
April 29, 1864 While Admiral Porter is nearly stranded at Alexandria, Colonel Joseph Bailey proposes a series of dams to raise the river level to seven feet, then open a chute and let the vessels slip through. Porter said “the proposition looks like madness and the best engineers ridicule the plan” but Porter asks General Banks to assign troops to try the plan. The result proves to be one of the most remarkable improvisations of the entire war.
April 30, 1864 President Davis orders all captured slaves found fighting for the Union to be returned to their rightful owners “on proof and payment of charges”.
April 30, 1864 President & Mrs. Davis mourn the death of their five year old son, Joe Davis. The lad died of injuries from a fall at the Confederate White House in Richmond.
April 30, 1864 The Battle of Jenkin’s Ferry takes place when General John S. Marmaduke attacks the rear guard of General Steele’s army. Steele manages to get the bulk of his army across the Sabine River to safety and rescues most of the rear guard soldiers. General Kirby-Smith lost his final chance to destroy Federal forces in Arkansas. The North lost 521 while the South lost 442 at Jenkin’s Ferry. The U.S. 2nd Colored Infantry murdered an unknown number of prisoners in retaliation for the atrocities inflicted on African American soldiers at Poison Springs on April 18, 1864.
May 1, 1864 Colonel John S. Mosby captures eight wagons at Bunker Hill, West Virginia during a raid on General Franz Sigel’s army.
May 2, 1864 The first session of the second Confederate Congress begins at Richmond. President Davis opens with a speech accusing the North of “barbarism” due to “plunder and devastation of the property of noncombatants, destruction of private dwellings, and even of edifices devoted to the worship of God”.
May 2, 1864 General Franz Sigel leads 6,500 Union troops out of Winchester, Virginia toward New Market. His orders are to destroy food and cattle in this Southern “breadbasket” territory.
May 3, 1864 President Lincoln’s cabinet meets with the President to discuss the recent murder of African American prisoners at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
May 3, 1864 General Grant begins the move of his 122,000 man army to an area called the Wilderness which is between General Lee’s forces and Richmond, Virginia. General Meade disputes this strategy and wants to assault Lee’s left flank. General Lee is confident his 66,000 men can hold off the larger force due to the tough terrain in the Wilderness area.
May 3, 1864 General Steele’s forces make it back to Little Rock ending the failed Red River Campaign. The disgruntled troops lost 2,750 of their members, nine cannons and 640 wagons. The Union was able to maintain partial control of the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy.

May 4–10, 1864

May 4, 1864 General Grant and General Meade lead a veteran 122,000 man Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River into a heavily forested area called the Wilderness. General Lee and his 66,000 men advance to engage the Union force, trying to force the battle to the thickest pine scrub forested area to negate the numerical odds.
May 4, 1864 General Lee orders General Longstreet to march his I Corps to the Wilderness woods to augment General Ewell’s II Corps and General Ambrose Hill’s III Corp. Meanwhile, Union General Benjamin Butler transports his Army of the James from Fortress Monroe toward Richmond.
May 4, 1864 In the West, General Sherman leaves Chattanooga, Tennessee with his 110,000 man Army. General Joseph E. Johnston is just below Chattanooga in northern Georgia. Sherman’s immediate goal is Atlanta.
May 5, 1864 The Battle of the Wilderness erupts along the Orange Turnpike. In a seesaw struggle with heavy casualties on both sides, neither Army could claim significant advances.
May 5, 1864 General Butler’s Army of the James arrives at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia. They are within marching distance of Richmond which is lightly defended due to the Wilderness area fighting.
May 5, 1864 In the Albemarle Sound off Plymouth, North Carolina, the ironclad ram CSS Albemerle, under Commander James W. Cooke, and escorts CSS Bombshell and CSS Cotton Plant engage Union warships. Commander Cooke has two banded Brooke rifles and heavy armor in his favor while the Union vessels have a combined total of 60 cannons. After broadside exchanges, the ironclad Albemarle is undamaged. Union Captain Melancthon Smith orders his USS Sassacus to charge the CSS Albemarle at full steam. The collision damages both ships but the Albemarle puts a point blank shot through the Sasscus’s boiler. This exchange is a technical draw but leaves the coastal Confederate forces without naval support.
May 6, 1864 Stand Watie, a Cherokee Chief, is appointed brigadier general,C.S.A.
May 6, 1864 The Battle of the Wilderness continues along the Orange Plank Road. General Longstreet arrives with his I Corps and attacks General Winfield Hancock’s II Corps. General Longstreet is seriously wounded by friendly fire and General Micah Jenkin’s, riding alongside him, is killed. This incident occurred very near the spot where General “Stonewall” Jackson was killed. The Union forces begin a march 25 miles south toward Rocky Face Ridge.
May 8, 1864 Near Spotsylvania Court House, a three mile skirmish line forms opposite Confederate earthworks. General Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps and John Sedgewick’s VI Corps are repelled. General Lee orders trees to be felled, trenches dug, and defensive lines strengthened within the existing earthworks. A protruding double salient is named the “Mule Shoe”. Confederate troops are heavily entrenched and have ample supplies.
May 9, 1864 The Army of the Potomac deploys by forming an arc outside the Confederate lines at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. The Federals outnumber the Confederates about 100,00 to 60,000.
May 9, 1864 General Philip H. Sheridan commands seven cavalry brigades with about 10,000 men and plans a raid against Richmond. This effort is to lure General J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederate Cavalry out of Richmond where Sheridan can overwhelm Stuart. The raid deprives General Grant’s Army of the Potomac the ability to reconnoiter Confederate positions.
May 9, 1864 General John Sedgwick is killed by a sniper at Spotsylvania just moments after stating “They couldn’t kill an elephant at this distance”.
May 9, 1864 The railroad breastworks at Cloyd’s Mountain, Virginia becomes a major battle site when Union troops try to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes leads the Union soldiers on the right with stiff resistance. Losses on both sides are heavy and Confederate General Albert Jenkins is seriously wounded. The New River bridge is burned, cutting the railroad.
May 9, 1864 The Buzzard’s Roost, Georgia and nearby Rocky Face Ridge are skirmish sites. General James B. McPherson moves through Snake River Gap and gets behind General Joseph Johnston’s, Confederate Army.
May 10, 1864 General Grant orders an attack on the center of the Confederate line at Spotsylvania Court House after General Lee weakens his center by moving reinforcements to the flanks. The center assault is at the “Mule Shoe”.
May 10, 1864 General J.E.B. Stuart moves through Beaver Dam Station, Virginia in pursuit of General Sheridan’s raiding army that has destroyed Confederate meat and bread rations vital to Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. A Union force under Generals Lunsford Lomax and William Wickham move into blocking position at Yellow Tavern, six miles north of Richmond.
May 10, 1864 Colonel John Mosby attacks Union Cavalry at Front Royal, Virginia and General John Morgan battles General William Averell’s cavalry at Wytheville, Virginia.
May 10, 1864 On the Red River near Alexandria, Louisiana, Admiral David Porter reports that his four ship squadron successfully slips through rapids created when a hastily constructed log and earthen dam designed to raise the water level suddenly collapses, causing an effective chute. Porter reports to Navy Secretary Welles, “The passage of these vessels was a beautiful sight, only to be realized when seen”.

May 11–17, 1864

May 11, 1864 General J.E.B. Stuart’s 4,500 cavalrymen are attacked by a larger Union force under General Philip Sheridan’s command at Yellow Tavern, just six miles north of Richmond. Fighting lasts from about 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM with neither force gaining the advantage. General George Custer masses for a charge on the Confederate left and scatters General Lunsford Lomax’s brigade. General Stuart leads a sharp counterattack and drives Custer back to his original line but Stuart is mortally shot in the abdomen and dies the next day.
May 11, 1864 General Grant enters battle near Spotsylvania Court House despite heavy losses the previous day. Grant’s entire II Corps commanded by General Winfield Hancock assaults in column, fully expecting to take the “Mule Shoe”. General Lee concludes from reports that Hancock is trying to flank his left and orders cannons to be moved from the Mule Shoe, which becomes vulnerable.
May 11, 1864 General Franz Sigel is surprised by General John D. Imboden’s cavalry at Port Royal. Imboden takes 464 Union prisoners but Sigel continues down the Shenandoah Valley.
May 12, 1864 In fighting that lasted more than twelve hours, General Grant and General Lee lose over 28,000 men. The “Bloody Angle” at Spotsylvania Court House enters the history books. The fact that General Lee technically won, suffering fewer losses, attests to the value of earthen works against a larger adversary.
May 12, 1864 General Benjamin Butler’s 15,000 man Army of the James leaves their defensive works and move into position at Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia.
May 12, 1864 General John C. Breckenridge moves to Staunton, Virginia with 5,500 men. His force is made up of regular army soldiers, militia men, and cadets from Virginia Military Institute.
May 12, 1864 General Joseph E. Johnston begins a pattern of advance and retreat in advance of General W.T. Sherman’s forces. The move from Dalton, Georgia to Resaca is the first in a series of similar moves, all the way to Atlanta.
May 12, 1864 The first anti-torpedo (mine) unit is established on the James River by Admiral Samuel P. Lee with the USS Stepping Stone, Delaware, and Tritonia put on 24 hour patrol.
May 13, 1864 General Sheridan withdraws from the Richmond area.
May 13, 1864 At Drewry’s Bluff, Confederate General Robert F. Hoke’s 15,000 men are nearly captured by Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James but Butler suspends his attack. This tactical blunder, one of several in Butler’s questionable leadership career, prompts General Beauregard to counterattack, sending Butler all the way back to Bermuda Hundred. .
May 13, 1864 Union forces send 1,140 more rounds into the ruble of Fort Sumter where defiant soldiers continue to hold out.
May 13, 1864 Dalton, Georgia is occupied by Union forces as they move through Snake Creek Gap. They fail to trap Johnston’s Confederate force which moves some 13 miles south of Resaca.
May 14, 1864 North of New Market, Virginia, General Sigel’s Union forces skirmish General Imboden’s Confederates.
May 14, 1864 The Resaca Battle takes place with few measurable gains for either side. General George H. Thomas’s Division drives General Hood’s advance against the Union left back to the starting point.
May 15, 1864 The Battle of Reseca resumes as General Joseph Hooker engages General John B. Hood on the Union left. A confusing, costly battle results in heavy losses on both sides in excess of 11,000 men over the two days.
May 15, 1864 At New Market, Virginia General Breckenridge occupies a defensive position when General Sigel advances. The fight opens with an artillery dual but Breckenridge orders a Confederate charge, driving Sigel back through New Market to the cheers of the town residents. Union artillery again opens from high ground and stops Breckenridge. A gap opens in the Confederate line and 264 VMI Cadets advance to fill in. The Union troops fall back across the Shenandoah River to Strasburg. Ten VMI Cadets are killed and 47 wounded among total losses for both sides of 1,361.
May 16, 1864 In heavy fog at Drewry’s Bluff, General Beauregard launches an attack. Due to the fog, a flanking movement to turn General William Smith’s XVIII Corps right is undetected. The Confederates are rebuffed but Benjamin Butler withdraws behind fortifications and is unable to effectively move on Richmond or Petersburg as he is bottled up on the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula.
May 16, 1864 General Grant again suffers heavy casualties when General Richard Ewell charges across open ground at Spotsylvania Court House. Ewell has 29 cannon in support. General Grant disengages and marches southeast toward Richmond, deciding General Lee’s position is too strong.
May 17, 1864 General Johnston abandons Resaca and moves toward Kingston, Georgia. General Sherman follows.

May 18–24, 1864

May 18, 1864 Union cavalry troops capture Rome, Georgia when Confederate General Samuel G. French is dislodged. General Kenner Garrard leads the Union cavalry.
May 18, 1864 The last recorded action of the Trans-Mississippi region, also known as the Red River campaign, takes place at Yellow Bayou, Louisiana when Admiral David Porter’s fleet is fired on by General John Liddell’s cavalry unit.
May 19, 1864 New England writer Nathaniel Hawthorne dies at Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was a respected novelist of the era.
May 19, 1864 General Richard Ewell attempts a counterattack on Federal troops marching away from Spotsylvania Court House. During this last battle at Spotsylvania, losses mount to about 2,400 total. Grant has lost 17,500 of his 110,000 men at Spotsylvania and 33,000 in the entire Wilderness Campaign. Confederate losses are uncertain.
May 19, 1864 General Joseph Johnston orders General John B. Hood to counterattack the scattered Union XXIII Corps but then countermands his order and moves to Allatoona Pass, Georgia. Generals Hardee and Polk protest as they would rather stand and fight.
May 20, 1864 General Grant marches toward Hanover Station, 24 mile north of Richmond, with the intent of crushing Lee’s Army before they can entrench.
May 20, 1864 The Battle of Ware Bottom Church, Virginia, keeps General Butler’s troops bottled up at Bermuda Hundred next to the earthworks of General Beauregard’s force.
May 21, 1864 Secretary of State Seward instructs U.S. minister to France, John Bigelow, to issue a mild protest against French interference with Mexico but to avoid any confrontation until the Civil War is over.
May 21, 1864 General Grant gains the strategic initiative over General Lee by flanking the Confederate Army, crossing the North Anna River, and forcing Lee to react or follow.
May 21, 1864 Union General Franz Sigel, having lost the battle of New Market, is relieved by General David Hunter.
May 22, 1864 General Lee moves into defensive positions along the North Anna River.
May 22, 1864 General Sherman again outflanks General Joe Johnston’s forces, bypassing them at Allatoona, Georgia. Johnston falls back to Dallas, Georgia.
May 23, 1864 The Union II Corps deploys on the northern bank of the North Anna River and the IX Corps occupies Jericho Mills. The V and VI Corps set-up west of Jericho Mills and dig in.
May 23, 1864 General John H. Morgan begins an extended raid into Kentucky.
May 23, 1864 The side-wheeler USS Columbine runs aground in mud at Horse Landing, Palata, Florida. The 2nd Florida Cavalry captures the crew and burns the vessel. Twenty of the crew members are killed.
May 24, 1864 The Army of the Potomac again crosses the North Anna River, this time on a pontoon bridge. General Grant joins with General Sheridan, just returned from his raid near Richmond. General Lee has moved his army into an inverted V formation, trying to entice Grant into a trap. General Lee suddenly falls ill and no attack goes forward. Grant perceives the danger and moves back across the North Anna.

May 25–31, 1864

May 25, 1864 General U.S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac prepares to move east toward Cold Harbor after little progress along the North Anna River. The Confederates miss a chance to crush Grant’s widely scattered army when they fail to attack. General Robert E. Lee is still too ill to order any action.
May 25, 1864 In another Union plan to entice Robert E. Lee to be drawn away from Richmond, General David Hunter receives orders to move down the Shenandoah Valley, capture the rail junction at Lynchburg and then threaten Charlottsville.
May 25, 1864 Just 25 miles north of Atlanta, General Joseph Hooker, commanding the XX Corps, encounters General John Bell Hood’s Confederates. Hooker is repulsed and eventually is force to retire from the field. Union losses are about 1,600.
May 25, 1864 In an unsuccessful attempt to sink the CSS Albemarle steam ram, the USS Mattabesett tows two 100 pound torpedoes up the Middle River, North Carolina. Several swimmers jump overboard to get closer to the Albemarle but are detected. They swim to safety, escape capture, and are awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
May 26, 1864 Japanese authorities threaten to close the port at Kanagawa to all foreign commerce. Robert H. Pruyn, U.S. Minister to Japan, requests that the USS Jamestown be dispatched to that port as a show of force.
May 26, 1864 The Montana Territory is formed by taking land out of the Idaho and Dakota Territories.
May 26, 1864 The Union Army of the Potomac turns General R.E.Lee’s right flank by crossing the North Anna River and marching toward the Pamunkey River.
May 26, 1864 Dallas, Georgia is occupied by Union forces under General James McPherson.
May 26, 1864 General Hunter continues toward Staunton, Virginia from Strasburg but is slowed by felled trees and other obstacles put in place by General John Imboden’s Confederate Cavalry.
May 27, 1864 Between New Hope and Dallas, Georgia the Confederate line is probed by General Sherman’s Corp commanders. General Oliver O. Howard’s IV Corps is repulsed at Pickett’s Mill by General Patrick Cleburne’s troops. This success prompts General Johnston to order an attack for the following morning to be led by General John B. Hood.
May 27, 1864 General George Custer leads his cavalry in the capture of Hanovertown, Virginia after crossing the Pamunkey River.
May 28, 1864 Maximillian, puppet emperor of Austria, arrives in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Maximillian is backed by French Emperor Napoleon III and is opposed to Benito Juarez, Mexican politician turned guerrilla. The United States considers Maximillian’s presence a violation of the Monroe Doctrine and sends diplomatic protests but little more is possible due to the Civil War.
May 28, 1864 General Hood inspects the Union lines and considers the line strongly entrenched. General Johnston calls off the assault planned for this day.
May 28, 1864 Robert E. Lee shifts his headquarters to Atlee’s Station, Virginia to have a better view of Union movement toward Richmond. The Army of the Potomac continues down the north bank of the Pamunkey River, looking for a place to cross and attack Lee’s right. Union cavalry led by General David Gregg and Confederate General Wade Hampton’s troops enter a mounted skirmish at Haw’s Shop, Virginia. Hampton’s force is armed with long range Enfield rifles and they have the upper hand. General George Custer’s Michigan cavalry arrives and the “Wolverines”, armed with rapid fire Spencer Carbines, engage the Confederates and force them to withdraw.
May 29, 1864 General Lee moves toward Cold Harbor while General Grant continues toward Richmond. Neither commander has firm information about the movement of the opposing force.
May 29, 1864 General Jubel A. Early becomes the leader of the Confederate II Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. This corps was formerly under the command of “Stonewall” Jackson.
May 30, 1864 General Grant suddenly swings toward Cold Harbor, just 10 miles from Richmond. The Confederates withdraw to a new defensive line at Cold Harbor.
May 30, 1864 General Morgan begins his final raid across Union lines by entering Kentucky.
May 31, 1864 Radical Republicans meet at Cleveland, Ohio and nominate former Union General John Fremont and General John Cochrane of New York as their Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. Among Fremont’s strongest supporters is African-American Frederick Douglass who feels that President Lincoln is far too lenient toward Southerners in his early plans for Reconstruction.
May 31, 1864 While General Grant’s Overland Campaign is a series of tactical failures, the end result is a strategic success. In just one month, he has moved from the Rapidan River to the doorstep of Richmond. This was a very bloody month however.

June 8–14, 1864

June 8, 1864 The Republican convention in Baltimore picks Abraham Lincoln as the Presidential Candidate. A Southern War Democrat, Tennessee Governor Andrew Jackson, is nominated for Vice President. Hannibal Hamlin is dropped as Jackson is expected to get more votes. Two planks in their platform; end the rebellion and ratify the 13th Amendment.
June 8, 1864 As General Philip Sheridan moves out of New Castle Ferry, Virginia, scouts inform General Wade Hampton of his move to the northwest. General Hampton correctly guesses that he is headed for Trevilian Station and quickly begins to move his 4,700 troops and three batteries to intercept.
June 8, 1864 General Sherman resumes his flanking tactics and moves on Marrietta, Georgia. Confederate Cavalry General Wade Hampton continues to attack the ever longer supply line, forcing Sherman to detach more men to perform rear guard duty.
June 9, 1864 General John H. Morgan is driven out of Mount Sterling, Kentucky and heads for Winchester.
June 10, 1864 The Confederate Congress authorizes service for all males aged 17 to 50 years old to induct more troops.
June 10, 1864 General Morgan enters Lexington, Kentucky, seizes some horses, and moves on to the capital at Frankfort.
June 10, 1864 General Nathan Bedford Forrest fails to cut General Sherman’s supply line through Tennessee even after he attacks and defeats General Samuel D. Sturgis’s larger Union force at Brice’s Cross Roads, Mississippi. The Confederates hold the high ground and were more rested than the opponents. The Union forces are routed with 2,240 men killed, missing, or wounded. Forrest suffered the loss of 492 cavalry troops but takes 16 cannon, 1,500 stands of arms, and 192 wagons.
June 11, 1864 General Jubel Early is sent to the Shenandoah Valley to stop General David Hunter’s forces. General Lee also is positioning Early’s forces closer to Washington, D.C. They could turn toward the Union Capital and arrive before General Grant could send troops from near Richmond to defend the city.
June 11, 1864 General Sheridan troops confront General Wade Hamptons forces as he arrives at Trivilian Station, Virginia. General Hampton is waiting in the woods. General George Custer’s Michigan brigade is directed to turn Hampton’s right flank and is successful. Custer continues between General Fitzhugh Lee’s division and captures 50 wagons, 800 prisoners, and 1,500 horses. After several hours of hard fighting, General Sheridan arrives with reinforcements and the Southerner scatter.
June 11, 1864 General Morgan continues across Kentucky, this time capturing Cynthiana and drawing close to Frankfort.
June 11, 1864 The CSS Alabama docks at Cherbourg, France for coal and repairs. The American vice consul in France notifies Captain John A. Winslow of the USS Kearsarge, currently in Dover, England, of Captain Raphael Semmes presence.
June 12, 1864 In a move of some 50 miles, General Grant begins to shift his army from Cold Harbor, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. General Lee is unaware that a 2,100 foot long pontoon bridge is constructed in eight hours to cross Grant’s Army over the James River. Grant’s XVIII Corps under General William Smith is transported to Bermuda Hundred on the James’ south bank.
June 12, 1864 At Trivilian Station, Virginia, General Sheridan’s troops battle cavalry units of General Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee while Union General Alfred Torberts division slows other cavalry units at work destroying the Central Virginia Railroad. This is one the largest all cavalry battles of the war and also very costly with 735 lost on the Union side and about 1000 Confederates lost. General Sheridan is unable to continue the plan to reinforce Union units in the Shenandoah Valley.
June 12, 1864 Union troops evict General John H. Morgan from Cynthiana, Kentucky, killing or capturing half of Morgan’s men. Confederate survivors go back to Virginia.
June 13, 1864 The campaign for Richmond begins when General Lee marches his men to intercept General Grant’s Army, believed to be approaching the Confederate Capital. Grant is actually continuing unopposed toward Petersburg and the James River.
June 13, 1864 General Jubel Early is detached from the the Army of Northern Virginia and sent, via railroad, to the Shenandoah Valley. Recent Union success in the valley prompts Early’s move to Lynchburg.
June 13, 1864 The USS Kearsarge departs Dover en route to Cherbourg, France.
June 13, 1864 General Samuel D. Sturgis skirmishes with General Forrest’s Confederate pusuers at Colliersville, Tennessee. This action ends General Sturgis’s career of mismanaged encounters. He spends the rest of the war in Memphis, “awaiting orders”.
June 14, 1864 The First Session of the second Confederate congress adjourns.
June 14, 1864 General Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James is bolstered by the arrival of General Smith’s XVIII Corps.
June 14, 1864 General Joseph Johnston calls a staff meeting of his generals at Pine Mountain, Georgia. Nearby Union forces fire a few rounds from heavy Parrott cannons and General Leonidas K. Polk is killed.

June 15–21, 1864

June 15, 1864 Copperhead Clement Vallandigham returns to Dayton, Ohio from his exile in Canada. He resumes trying to secure a negotiated peace with the Confederacy.
June 15, 1864 The House votes 95 to 66 against a joint resolution abolishing slavery. The 13th Amendment fails to receive a two-thirds majority vote.
June 15, 1864 The U.S. Congress passes legislation granting equal pay to black soldiers following several months of African American soldiers refusing to accept their pay if it was less than white soldiers received.
June 15, 1864 Confederate Cherokees shell the Union steamer J.R.Williams at Pleasant Bluffs, Arkansas. General Stand Watie leads the capture of the vessel which is carrying rations for Fort Gibson, Indian Territory where about 5,000 Indian refuges friendly to the Union are being garrisoned.
June 15, 1864 General William F.(Baldy)Smith and 12,500 men of the XVIII Corps approach lightly defended Petersburg, Virginia and are reinforced by General Winfield Hancock’s II Corps. General Smith decides not to attack at night. General P.G.T. Beauregard rapidly funnels nearly 14,000 defensive troops into Petersburg.
June 16, 1864 President Lincoln addresses the Sanitation Fair in Philadelphia.
June 16, 1864 General Meade arrives in Petersburg with the entire Army of the Potomac, a move still unknown to the Confederates. General William Smith has immediate success capturing a mile of trenches on the outer perimeter but fails to press his numerical superiority, later judged one of the most costly mistakes of the war.
June 16, 1864 Pushed by Sherman’s army at Marietta, Georgia, General Joseph Johnston retires to a new position at Mud Creek, Georgia.
June 16, 1864 Confederate General Jubal Early arrives at Charlottesville, Virginia but nearly half of his II Corps is delayed on the railroad. Only about 4,000 men aid the defense at Lynchburg.
June 16, 1864 The CSS Alabama begins to take on coal and munitions at Cherbourg, France.
June 17, 1864 An explosion at the Washington Arsenal kills 18 and injures 20 workers.
June 17, 1864 Union General David Hunter attacks Lynchburg, Virginia which is defended by forces commanded by Generals John Breckenridge and John Imboden. General Early’s reinforcements help to stiffen the resistance. General Hunter breaks off the engagement and encamps for the night.
June 17, 1864 The CSS Florida captures and sinks the Union brig W.C. Clarke at sea.
June 18, 1864 General David Birney takes command of the II Corp, replacing the ailing Winfield Hancock.
June 18, 1864 The siege of Petersburg begins with the arrival of General Lee’s 50,000 man Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s tired and hungry troops defend a 26 mile line plus four railroads that are his lifeline for supplies. General Grant has 110,000 men in his Army of the Potomac plus a steady influx of reinforcement and replacements. The strong southern defense is soon tested when soldiers of Union General David B. Birney’s command probe the defensive line and are repulsed.
June 18, 1864 General David Hunter again attacks at Lynchburg and is hindered by accurate Confederate Artillery fire compared to his own inexperienced gunners. General Hunter concludes that he is outnumbered. He halts the engagement and withdraws. General Early, actually with a smaller force, pursues the retreating Union forces and gains the initiative.
June 18, 1864 General Johnston leaves Pine Mountain, Georgia and moves to the strong defensive entrenchment at Kennesaw Mountain.
June 19, 1864 About seven miles outside the Cherbourg, France harbor, the USS Kearsarge engages the CSS Alabama. Captain John H. Winslow heads directly for the Alabama and Captain Raphel Semmes easily maneuvers out of the path. Circling ever closer, the ships are broad side at 400 yards when Semmes fires a round and misses. The Kearsarge is struck by a 100 pound round that fails to explode. The Alabama takes several direct hits with hull damage while protective chains on the Kearsarge cause all 28 rounds that hit the Kearsarge’s hull to do little damage. Deteriorated powder from lengthy exposure to salt water may have been a factor in the Alabama’s “weak” hits. The CSS Alabama sank. Captain Semmes and Lieutenant John M. Kell were picked up by a sightseers boat crew and others were also rescued.
June 20, 1864 General Sherman’s army reaches the Confederate defensive lines at Kennesaw Mountain.
June 21, 1864 President Lincoln visits the Union troops in Petersburg. He is warned to keep his head down as he is wearing his distinctive stovepipe hat.
June 21, 1864 At Petersburg, General Grant attempts to stretch the Confederate defenses thin by moving his troops further south and west than the defensive line can cover. He also sends two corps with cavalry to break the Confederate supply line.
June 21, 1864 Union General Joseph Hooker’s XX Corps reaches the extreme left of the Confederate’s earthworks at Kennesaw Mountain. General Johnston moves General John Bell Hood’s corp from their position on the far right flank to the endangered left.

June 22–28, 1864

June 22, 1864 Confederate General Hood makes a determined but unsuccessful attack on Federals near Zion Church, northwest of Marietta, Georgia.
June 22, 1864 At Petersburg, Virginia, Generals Birney and Wright move out as ordered. They are met by forces commanded by Confederate General A.P. Hill. Birney’s forces are driven back with 2962 casualities, including 1600 prisoners, along the Jerusalem Plank Road. Wright’s forces are blocked and the effort to extend the siege line largely fails.
June 22, 1864 General John Morgan receives command of the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee.
June 23, 1864 Generals David Birney and Horato Wright repeat the attack with their II and VI Corps. They regain lost ground from the previous day but fail to cut the railroad. It will take eight more weeks for General Grant to mount a larger effort in the sector.
June 23, 1864 General David Hunter escapes Confederate General Early’s attack in the Shenandoah Valley by retreating westerly. Hunter’s move takes him further from Washington, now exposed to attack.
June 23, 1864 The heavy ironclad USS Tecumseh leaves the James River and joins the Blockading Forces at Mobile.
June 24, 1864 The Maryland Convention meets and votes to abolish slavery in the state.
June 24, 1864 U.S. Cavalry commanded by General Philip Sheridan are driven off at Samaria Church, Virginia as they make their way back from the aborted effort at Lynchburg.
June 25, 1864 At Petersburg, digging begins when miners from Schuykill County, Pennsylvania conceive a plan to construct a 500+ foot tunnel under Confederate earthworks. The miners are members of Colonel Henry Pleasant’s 48th Pennsylvania. The plan is endorsed by General Ambrose Burnside, IX Corp commander and reluctantly approved by General Grant.
June 25, 1864 General Sheridan’s Cavalry ferries across the James River and rejoins the main Union army at Petersburg.
June 26, 1864 General Early’s 14,000 man force occupies Stanton, Virginia with plans to move on to Winchester.
June 26, 1864 General John Schofield leads three brigades of his Army of the Ohio across Olley’s Creek at the base of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia against surprisingly light resistance. General Sherman misses an opportunity to profit from this foothold and instead plans a frontal assault against what he believes are thin-spread Confederate forces.
June 27, 1864 The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain raged from 9 o’clock until 11:30 AM. Three major uphill assaults resulted in no gain by the Union forces. Federal losses were 1,999 killed or wounded and 52 missing. Two Union Generals are killed. This is the most costly encounter of the Atlanta Campaign.
June 27, 1864 President Lincoln accepts the Union’s Party nomination to run for President.
June 28, 1864 President Lincoln signs legislation repealing the fugitive slave act.

July 6–12, 1864

July 6, 1864 The Union presence at Monocacy Junction is increased with the arrival of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. At Baltimore, the 3rd Division, VI Corps arrives to aid in the defense of the city.
July 6, 1864 Claiming depredations committed by the Union in the Shenandoah Valley, General Jubal A. Early demands $200,000 be paid to Confederate forces occupying Hagerstown, Maryland.
July 7, 1864 General Grant, concerned with the Confederate thrust into Maryland, sends the VI Corps troops of General James B. Ricketts from Baltimore to Monocacy Junction to join General Lew Wallace and his 3,000 men.
July 7, 1864 The bombardment of Fort Sumter continues with another 784 rounds fired. Union troops are forced off of James Island, Charleston Harbor with 330 casualties. Southern losses total 163.
July 8, 1864 At Soap Creek, Georgia, General Schofield’s Union troops cross the Chattahoochee River and flank General Johnston’s defensive position. General Joseph E.Johnston begins a move all the way to the outskirts of Atlanta. President Jefferson Davis is displeased by this move and sends General Bragg to consult with Johnston. General Sherman accumulates supplies, now being sent from Montgomery, Alabama to Columbus, Georgia via rail lines recently controlled by Union forces.
July 9, 1864 The hastily assembled forces of General Lew Wallace initially stop General Early’s Confederate forces at Monacacy Junction but Southern forces soon rout Wallace’s unprepared and untrained force. General Early moves on toward Washington, pausing in Frederick, Maryland to demand $200,000. Army recruits, volunteers, and civilians man the forts on the edge of Washington City.
July 10, 1864 President Lincoln calls for calm in Washington. General Early moved through Rockville, Maryland and approached Fort Stevens, lightly held by about 200 inexperienced artillery soldiers. Union reinforcements are sent from several directions and arrive before an attack can be organized.
July 11, 1864 General Robert E. Rode’s Confederate division marches to Fort Stevens but General Early pulls his exhausted troops back after the hot forced march. The delay allowed Union reinforcements to be in place by the late afternoon when Early decides to attack. General Early learns of the increased defense force and again delays, a move still questioned on several levels.
July 12, 1864 General Early withdraws from Washington and is pursued by General Horatio Wright’s Federal troops. General Rode’s Confederates are chased but they escape. President Lincoln is visiting the parapets and Oliver Wendell Holmes (young officer and later a Supreme Court Judge) shouts “Get down, you fool”.
July 12, 1864 Leaving Washington City, the Confederates burn down the house of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair.

July 20–26, 1864

July 20, 1864 As Jubel Early continues to withdraw into the Shenandoah Valley, Union General William W. Averell’s cavalry surprises General Stephen D. Ramsuer’s division at Stephenson’s Depot, West Virginia. Confederate losses include 73 killed, 130 wounded, 267 captured, and four cannon. General Early reaches Strasburg.
July 20, 1864 At Atlanta, General George H. Thomas crosses Peachtree Creek north of the city just as newly appointed Confederate General John B. Hood, an aggressive fighter, attacks with 19,000 Confederate troops. This becomes a day long battle with heavy losses on both sides but is futile for General Hood’s as General McPherson continues to extend the ring of Union forces around Atlanta. General Hood plans to attack the next time circumstances favor the offense.
July 21, 1864 General James A. McPherson’s Union troops attack Confederate defenders near Bald Hill outside Atlanta. Intense artillery fire covers the advance of both sides up the hill but Union troops claim the hilltop. Both sides lose 350 fighters in a technical draw but the Union now has the high point to launch artillery into the center of Atlanta.
July 21, 1864 General Hood orders General William Hardee to move out of the Atlanta fortification, march 25 miles to Decatur, Georgia under the cover of night, and get behind and on the flank of the Army of the Tennessee. General McPherson lacks cavalry to detect such a move.
July 22, 1864 President Jefferson Davis tries to send General Edmond Kirby-Smith to aid General Hood. The Union controls the Mississippi River so this order does not result in any troop movement.
July 22, 1864 The Battle of Atlanta is started by General Hood when General Hardee is ordered to strike General McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee east of the city. Hardee fails to move far enough past McPherson’s force to flank them and attacks head on. Confederate Generals William H.T. Walker and William Bate charge but are repelled by Union forces under General Grenville M. Dodge’s XVI Corps. General McPherson is reconnoitering ahead of his position when he encounters a Confederate picket and is shot dead. He becomes the highest ranking Union officer killed in the Civil War.
July 22, 1864 In continued fighting in Atlanta, General Hood commits Generals Benjamin Cheatham’s corps and Gustavus Smith’s Georgia militia against General James A. Logan’s (McPherson’s temporary successor) XV corps. Repulsed across the line, General Hood concedes defeat and withdraws. Losses are 8,000 Confederates and 3,722 Union soldiers. Most devastating is the Union’s loss of Ohio General James A. McPherson, popular and capable friend of General William T. Sherman.
July 23, 1864 The Louisiana State Convention adopts a new constitution outlawing slavery.
July 23, 1864 At Winchester, Virginia, Union General Alfred N. Duffie’s cavalry clash with Confederate troopers. Reports of a Confederate resurgence in the valley, including General Early’s 14,000 men near Kernstown, Virginia, worries Union commanders.
July 24, 1864 General Jubal Early sends his troops against General George Crook’s 8,500 Union soldiers at Kernstown. Initial results have Crook’s troops withstanding several charges. When flanked by General John Breckenridge’s Confederates, Crook’s unit escapes toward Bunker Hill, West Virginia. Early’s easy victory convinces him to attempt another raid into Pennsylvania while Washington politicians are convinced new, more vigorous leadership is needed in the Shenandoah Valley.
July 25, 1864 General Early pursues General Crook’s men into West Virginia. Heavy rain impedes both units.
July 25, 1864 General George Stoneman’s cavalry division prepares for an extended raid to cut the Macon and Western Railroad into Atlanta,Georgia. General Sherman shifts the approach to Atlanta to the north and west of the city when he orders General Logan to march his Army of the Tennessee from the right flank to the left. General O.O. Howard’s objective is East Point, Georgia, where the Macon and Western railroad intersects with the Atlanta and West Point rail line, General Hood’s last line of supply.
July 26, 1864 General U.S.Grant plans a diversion with Generals Winfield Hancock and Philip Sheridan demonstrating north of the James River to cause General Lee to send troops northward. Grant’s hope is to weaken the defense of the city prior to the upcoming (July 30th) assault on Petersburg. This would also move Sheridan’s cavalry closer to Richmond or the Virginia Central Railroad.
July 26, 1864 General Oliver O. Howard is formally given command of the Army of the Tennessee, replacing James McPherson.

August 3–9, 1864

August 3, 1864 General Jubal Early withdraws his Confederate cavalry from Maryland into West Virginia. General McCausland’s Confederate raiders remain in Maryland. General David Hunter dispatches General Averell’s 1,500 man Union Cavalry to find and defeat them.
August 3, 1864 Mobile Bay, Alabama is made safer for Union use when armed Union boats sail into the bay at night to mark the torpedo field with bouys and disable as many of the torpedo mines as possible.
August 4, 1864 General William T. Sherman continues his strategy of encircling Atlanta. He orders General Schofield’s Army of the Ohio with help from General John Palmer’s XIV Corps from the Army of the Tennessee to storm Confederate earthworks at Utoy Creek, moving the Union forces just two miles from the strategic East Point railroad junction.
August 4, 1864 General McCausland’s Confederate cavalry hits the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at New Creek, West Virginia but are repulsed. They move on to Moorefield, West Virginia.
August 5, 1864 President Lincoln vetoes a bill proposed by Radical Republicans Benjamin Wade and Henry W. Davis that would allow them to actively campaign to depose Lincoln. The so-called Wade-Davis Manifesto would “check the encroachment of the Executive on the Authority of Congress”. The issue is whether Lincoln or Congress will control reconstruction.
August 5, 1864 General William Averell is advised of increased Confederate activity around New Creek, West Virginia. Averell’s troops approach Moorefield, West Virginia.
August 5, 1864 Admiral Farragut launches an all out attack to capture Mobile Bay. The ironclads lead the formation followed by the 14 wooden ships lashed together in pairs and the other supply and smaller boats lashed to the armada on the side away from Fort Morgan where Confederate heavy cannons are located. The USS Tecumseh ironclad strikes a torpedo and sinks within 30 second with 90 crewmen lost. The USS Brooklyn, second vessel in line, suddenly reverses engines and the entire squadron jams up dangerously. Admiral Farragut inquires what the problem is and when told by the Brooklyn’s captain “Torpedos!!!”, Farragut responds “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead”. The CSS Tennessee tries and fails to ram Farragut’s flagship “Hartford” and no further ships are lost. The Tennessee retreats to the protection of Fort Morgan.
August 6, 1864 The CSS Tennessee refuses to surrender and tries to attack. Speedier Union vessels surround the Tennessee and ram the ship. The smokestack and steering chains are damaged and Captain Buchannan lowers his flag around 10:00 AM. The last remaining port in the Confederacy is closed.
August 6, 1864 General Averell passes through Romney, West Virginia intent on striking the Moorefield area Confederate encampments. Confederate pickets are seized as the Union force moves in.
August 6, 1864 Newly appointed Army of the Shenandoah General Phil Sheridan arrives at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.
August 7, 1864 President Lincoln questions General Grant over the naming of 33 year old General Sheridan to such an important position. Grant defends the choice stating that he wants an aggressive and headstrong firebrand at the helm.
August 7, 1864 General Averell surprises General Bradley T. Johnson’s troopers at Moorefield, West Virginia, driving part of the 8th Virginia Cavalry into the Potomac River. General McCausland’s camp is also overrun.
August 7, 1864 The East Point, Georgia railroad junction is heavily fortified and General Schofield decides not to attack. He orders his men to fortify positions along Sandtown Road.
August 8, 1864 Fort Gaines, Mobile Bay, Alabama is formally surrendered after prolonged naval bombardment. Fort Morgan remains in Confederate hands as the Union vessels replenish ammunition and move into position for a bombardment.
August 9, 1864 A 12-pound torpedo is detonated by saboteurs on a large Union transport at City Point, Virginia. The blast triggers other stored ordnance to explode throughout the occupied city with 43 Union soldiers lost and 126 injured. The Confederate Army has finished repair on the fortifications damaged by the “Crater” mine.
August 9, 1864 General Sherman directs siege guns be positioned on Bald Hill, Georgia. Several large Parrott rifles are placed and bombard Atlanta with about 5,000 shots per day for the next two weeks. The effect on morale of Atlanta occupants is as important as damage.

August 10–16, 1864

August 10, 1864 Confederate General Hood dispatches General Wheeler’s cavalry to raid Sherman’s rail lines above Atlanta and into Tennessee. Wheeler continues these raids until September 10th without much effect. General Sherman has ample supplies stockpiled for this time and the Confederate Army is without Wheeler’s cavalry for a month. Another blunder by General John B. Hood?
August 10, 1864 General Philip Sheridan leaves Harper’s Ferry, enters the Shenandoah Valley, and moves toward General Jubal Early’s forces near Winchester, Virginia.
August 10, 1864 The transport steamer ’Empress’ comes under attack by the Confederate Battery at Gaines Landing, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Federal gunboats led by the USS Romeo arrive and silence the battery. The USS Empress takes 63 hits and is ultimately towed to safety. Fighting continues into the next day when the USS Romeo and Prairie Bird are engaged until the Confederate Battery is again silenced.
August 11, 1864 General Sheridan continues his pursuit of General Early’s Confederate forces as they move back to Cedar Creek, Virginia.
August 12, 1864 In a week of heavy raiding by the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee, six Union vessels are taken off New York and seven more off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
August 13, 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant learns that a large Confederate force is being moved from Deep Bottom Run, 11 miles southeast of the Richmond/Petersburg, Virginia area to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant orders General Winfield Hancock’s II Corps, General David Birney’s X Corps, and the 2nd Cavalry Division of General David M. Gregg to strike the remaining defenses at Deep Bottom Run. A Union breakthrough in this sector would put the Union Army only ten miles from Richmond. Deep Bottom Run is the location of the Darbytown Road skirmish back on July 28th involving both Sheridan and Hancock.
August 13, 1864 General Alfred Pleasonton carries out a large scale anti-guerrilla raid against William C. Quantrill’s forces in La Fayette, Saline, and Howard Counties, Missouri.
August 14, 1864 Confederate infantry under General Richard H. Anderson arrives at Front Royal, Virginia. General Sheridan’s lines of communication are threatened by this move. General Wesley Merritt’s cavalry scouts near Front Royal to determine strength and intentions of Anderson’s units. Sheridan moves back toward Harper’s Ferry and settles at Halltown, Virginia.
August 14, 1864 Cavalry General Joseph Wheeler destroys track south of Dalton, Georgia. Union troops guarding the supply line from Chattanooga to Atlanta are able to drive Wheeler’s Cavalry off.
August 15, 1864 Generals Hancock and Birney march down the Charles City Road toward Fussell’s Mill in the Deep Bottom Run area. General Gouverneur K. Warren also brings his V Corp from the Union right to strike the Weldon Road.
August 15, 1864 Skirmishing at Ceder Creek, Virginia involving General Sheridan’s cavalry and General Early’s troopers result in a cautious move back toward Winchester. General Grant again cautions Sheridan that President Lincoln’s re-election is precarious and any defeat would be embarrassing and must be avoided at all cost. General Wheeler now believes that Sheridan is timid.
August 16, 1864 Colonel John Mosby surprises and defeats a Union force at Kernstown and Charleston, West Virginia.
August 16, 1864 At Fussell’s Mill, Virginia, General Birney’s X Corp achieves initial success but General Charles Field arrive to fill the breach. Union losses total about 2,000, twice the Confederate loss.
August 16, 1864 At Front Royal, Virginia, Confederate General Richard Anderson is pushed back to the Shenandoah River in hand to hand and sabre fighting. General George A. Custer’s Union cavalry brigade, armed with repeating Spencer carbines, sends the Confederates back across the river. General Sheridan now has a clear picture of the strength of the Confederate force and moves back toward Harper’s Ferry once again.
August 16, 1864 The Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee captures and burns four more Federal vessels of the New England coast.

August 17–24, 1864

August 17, 1864 General Jubel Early attacks the Union rear guard at Winchester, Virginia.
August 17, 1864 At Halifax, Nova Scotia, the CSS Tallahassee takes on a supply of coal. U.S. Consul, Mortimor M. Jackson, protests its arrival and alerts Commander George A. Stevens of the USS Pontoosuc at Eastport, Maine that the Tallahassee is in the area.
August 18, 1864 The Confederate government again requests the resumption of prisoner exchanges. General U.S. Grant again refuses. The position taken deprives the South of needed soldiers but prolongs the hardship of Union captives.
August 18, 1864 General Grant’s plan to attack Confederate units near Deep Bottom Run has the desired effect of keeping General Lee from sending reinforcements to the Shenandoah Valley but the Union suffers 2,900 killed, wounded, or missing compared to about 1,500 Southern losses.
August 18, 1864 Outside Petersburg, Virginia, General Gouverneur K. Warren’s V Corp captures the Globe Tavern and portions of the Weldon Railroad. This extends the Union siege line and forces the Confederates to defend more ground with fewer troops. General Lee’s supply line is the Weldon Railroad so General Lee prepares to take it back by force.
August 18, 1864 General Sherman’s cavalry, commanded by General Hugh Kilpatrick, captures the Atlantic and West Point Railroad and moves on to Lovejoy Station, 20 miles southeast of Atlanta, to attack the Macon and Western rail line.
August 19, 1864 At Weldon’s Station, Confederates commanded by General Ambrose P. Hill attack General Warren’s V Corp and four Union Division supporting from the IX and II Corps. After rugged fighting throughout the day, the Union remains in control but suffers 4,455 casualties while the Confederates records 1,600 lost.
August 20, 1864 The Macon and Western Railroad is further damaged at Lovejoy’s Station. The Union forces of General Kilpatrick then scramble back toward Atlanta and General Sherman’s main Army.
August 20, 1864 The USS Pontoosuc fails to stop the Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee, arriving seven hours after the Tallahassee departs.
August 21, 1864 General Robert E. Lee abandons the Weldon Railroad outside Petersburg, Virginia when General Hill cannot dislodge the defenders at Globe Tavern.
August 21, 1864 General Richard Page, commander at Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama destroys the remaining powder supply to avoid any chance hits from Union shells. Admiral Farragut has 25 army cannon and 16 mortars in addition to his Squadron’s mounted guns, all directing fire on the fort.
August 21, 1864 General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Memphis in a surprise raid by 2,000 Confederate cavalry. General Cadwallader C. Washburn narrowly escapes in his nightclothes.
August 22, 1864 The weary soldiers from General Hancock’s units as well as support units of Generals John Gibbons and Nelson Miles plus General David Gregg’s cavalry are transferred to Ream’s Station on the Weldon Railroad to rest while doing light fatigue duty.
August 23, 1864 General Page surrenders Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Wilmington, North Carolina is the only remaining port open to Southern shipping.
August 23, 1864 President Lincoln is pessimistic about his re-election. He is sure that any rival candidate will make promises that will be difficult to keep and he stated “It will be my duty to co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards”.
August 24, 1864 At Gunter’s Prairie, Indian Territory, the 2nd Kansas Cavalry with about 420 troops is attack by 800 Confederate Cherokee’s commanded by General Stand Watie and 1,200 Texas cavalry with Colonel Richard M. Gano in command. The Kansas force escapes with 20 casualties. The Southern units move northwest past Fort Gibson and attacks a small Union force at Flat Rock Ford.

August 25–30, 1864

August 25, 1864 At Ream’s Station, Virginia, General Ambrose P. Hill’s 10,000 men assaults the Union II Corps of General Winfield S. Hancock in General Nelson Miles division sector and drives them back. The Confederates then capture several cannon and hundreds of prisoners. When the Union reserves from General John Gibbon’s division try to fill the gap, they stumble and eventually run. Nearly 2,000 prisoners are captured in this embarrassing encounter.
August 25, 1864 General Early bypasses entrenched Union forces at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia and moves on to Shepherdstown with the intent to try another invasion into Maryland.
August 25, 1864 General Sherman is unwilling to attack fully entrenched Confederate forces at Atlanta and his cavalry has failed to cut Confederate supply lines. He commits a large portion of his Division of the Mississippi against the Macon and Western Railroad near Rough and Ready and at Jonesboro, to sever this single supply route. He orders his XX Corps to guard his own supply lines.
August 26, 1864 At Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the convention of African Americans calls for a resolution to allow the commissioning of black military officers.
August 26, 1864 General Jubel Early crosses the Potomac and enters Maryland for the third time. Union forces skirmish with Early’s cavalry at Williamsport.
August 27, 1864 Admiral David Farragut requests sick leave from the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Mobile Bay, Alabama. He has served in the Gulf and Caribbean Sea for over five years.
August 27, 1864 General Hood and General Sherman commit large columns of soldiers to the Macon and Western railroad at Jonesboro, Georgia. If Hood fails to save the railroad, he will be trapped inside Atlanta. General Sherman’s Army of the Cumberland controls the Montgomery and Atlanta Railroad and his Army of the Tennessee moves to Fairburn, Georgia on the Macon and Western line.
August 28, 1864 General Sheridan advances from Harper’s Ferry back toward the Shenandoah.
August 29, 1864 The Democratic National Convention convenes at Chicago, Illinois. Clement L. Vallandigham, a Copperhead, delivers the keynote speech.
August 29, 1864 General Sterling Price again plans to conquer Missouri for the South. He is gathering troops at Princeton, Arkansas for a final attempt.
August 29, 1864 A Confederate torpedo mine explodes in Mobile Bay killing five Union sailors with several wounded. Admiral Farragut vows to clear all explosive weapons from the bay before he goes on leave.
August 30, 1864 The Democratic Convention adopts a peace platform calling for an immediate end to all hostilities between the North and South. This platform is virtually ’exactly opposite’ President Lincoln and the Republican’s stand.
August 30, 1864 The Northern and the Southern Army units near Jonesboro, Georgia, each with about 20,000 men, make final moves and preparations for a huge battle over the control of the Macon and Western line. General O.O. Howard crosses the Flint River and General Hood moves to push him back across the river.

September 7–13, 1864

September 7, 1864 An additional 573 rounds are fired into the rubble of Fort Sumter with no surrender.
September 7, 1864 General Sherman’s Special Field Order #67 requires about 1,600 families to begin an evacuation of Atlanta. Sherman’s message to the city’s mayor--“War is cruelty and you cannot refine it. When peace comes you may call on me for anything. Then I will share with you the last cracker”.
September 8, 1864 George McClellan accepts the Democratic Party nomination for president but rejects the platform that labels the war a failure. He calls President Lincoln a failure for the way he handled the war and disagrees with the Union push for unconditional surrender and recognition of Emancipation in the South. He insists only on reunion; individual states of the South re-entering the Union with full guarantee of all constitutional rights.
September 8, 1864 Federal ships escort an army transport into the Bonsecours River near Mobile and destroy more than 50 Confederate salt furnaces at Salt House Point.
September 9, 1864 General Grant urges General Sherman to resume offensive pressure on General Hood’s Army. No specific decision on Sherman’s next move is discussed but the goal is to keep Hood away from the stalemate at Petersburg/Richmond.
September 9, 1864 In Tennessee, General Wheeler completes his raid on Union supply lines and crosses the Tennessee River at Florence, Alabama. Union work crews quickly repair the railroads. The net result of Wheeler’s raid is to deprive General Hood of cavalry and additional fighting troops at Atlanta.
September 10, 1864 General Sheridan, aware that some of General Early’s troops have been moved to Richmond, proposes offensive action at Winchester against Early’s remaining strength. General Grant agrees.
September 11, 1864 Generals Sherman and Hood agree on a ten day truce to allow the Atlanta citizens to evacuate with their belongings. A citizens committee presents a formal protest and General Sherman is blunt saying “You might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war”.
September 12, 1864 President Lincoln, anxious to break the stalemate between Sheridan and Early at Winchester, Virginia, suggests to General Grant to “quietly but suddenly” supply additional troops to Sheridan to allow him to strike.
September 12, 1864 General Sterling Price’s Confederates cross the White River, Arkansas, and march to Pocahontas to unite with General Joseph Shelby’s Cavalry Division. The Army of Missouri is then organized into three divisions under Shelby, James Fagan, and John S. Marmaduke. Price commands 12,000 men and 14 cannon but about half of his men are untrained or unarmed. His plan is to capture Union weapons as they cross Missouri, marching in three distinct columns.

September 14–20, 1864

September 14, 1864 The Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley are weakened when General Richard H. Anderson’s corps leaves General Early’s army to rejoin General R.E. Lee at Petersburg, Virginia.
September 14, 1864 General Wade Hampton’s Confederate Cavalry rides southwest then southeast and finally northwest toward Coggins Point, Virginia on the Rowdy River. There are about 4,000 head of cattle at Coggin’s Point being herded by Union guards. The roundabout Confederate approach is to confuse the Union guards.
September 15, 1864 General Hampton’s force arrives at Blackwater Creek, Virginia, undetected after riding 18 miles on a circuitous route.
September 16, 1864 General Hampton engages and defeats a group of Federal troops herding cattle and leads over 2400 head back to Petersburg. They also take 300 prisoners.
September 16, 1864 Rebecca West, a Union spy in Winchester, Virginia, observes the departure of General Joseph Kershaw’s Confederate Cavalry with 12 cannon as they detach from General Early’s army. She relays the intelligence to General Sheridan and then confers with General Grant concerning strategy at Charlestown, Virginia. The transfer of forces back to Richmond induces General Sheridan to attack immediately.
September 17, 1864 John C. Fremont, nominated as a candidate for President at the spring convention of Radical Republicans dissatisfied with President Lincoln’s conduct of the war, withdraws from the race. Fremont fears a Democratic victory, leading to recognition of the Confederacy or, at least, the re-establishment of slavery. While still disappointed with the war’s progress, he swings his support to Lincoln and pledges to work for emancipation.
September 17, 1864 General Jubal Early, outnumbered three to one, advances toward Martinsburg, Virginia, to cut the Baltimore & Ohio RR.
September 18, 1864 When his Confederate troops encounter enemy cavalry, General Early falls back toward Winchester again. The 12,000 man Southern force is widely scattered and poorly positioned defensively. General Sheridan decides to attack first thing the next morning.
September 18, 1864 General John M. Schofield orders Union cavalry commanded by General Stephen Burbridge to depart Mount Sterling, Kentucky to Saltville on the Virginia border. This diversionary force is to mask the major raid under the command of General Alvan C. Gillem moving from Tennessee into southwestern Virginia.
September 19, 1864 General Sheridan attacks the Confederates in Winchester. Bottlenecks develop as the Union troops try to cross the Opequon River and the Confederates outnumber the attackers for a time. By afternoon, the Union is at full force against the Southern breastworks and General Early’s troops are forced into a full retreat. The Confederates suffer 3000 men killed or wounded, leaving many on the field. An additional 2000 are taken prisoner. This major victory causes jubilation in the North, especially in the Republican party seeking the re-election of President Lincoln. Republican James Garfield later writes “Phil Sheridan has made a speech in the Shenandoah Valley more powerful and valuable to the Union cause than all the stumpers of the Republic can make.”
September 19, 1864 The “Lake Erie Conspiracy” takes place as two Confederate agents launch their plan to capture the USS Michigan and free Confederate prisoners being held at Johnson’s Island in Sandusky Harbor. The plan fails when Confederate agent Charles H. Cole, aboard the USS Michigan as a plant, is discovered when he signals the boarding party. The other boat is scuttled by Confederate Navy Captain John Yates Beall who is later captured and hanged.
September 20, 1864 General Early regroups his scattered forces at Fisher’s Hill, Virginia. While he has a strong natural defensive position, he is short of manpower to man it effectively. Union cavalry continues the pursuit.
September 20, 1864 President Jefferson Davis travels from Richmond to Georgia to bolster Southern morale in the state.

October 26 – November 1, 1864

October 26, 1864 General Hood arrives in Decatur, Alabama, expecting to launch his Tennessee Campaign from that city. He finds that General Forrest has not arrived with his cavalry and that Union troops occupy parts of Decatur. Hood fires on the Union positions but soon moves his Army of Tennessee further west.
October 27, 1864 Union forces assault enemy positions on Boydton Road and Southside Railroad southwest of Petersburg, Virginia. General Ambrose P. Hill has strong defensive positions and the Union troops are unable to dislodge them. The Union has about 40,000 men involved and no more reinforcements available. The Confederates have about 20,000 men on the lines. Union casualties total 1656 in killed, wounded or missing. No report of Confederate loss.
October 27, 1864 Lieutenant William B. Cushing led 15 men in an attack on the Confederate ram Albemarle on the Roanoke River. Their steam craft was outfitted to ram through the protective log shell and explode a torpedo next to the hull of the Albemarle. The bold scheme worked and Lieutenant Cushing was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
October 28, 1864 General Hood continues to move his army westward. General Forrest has not arrived yet.
October 29, 1864 The Confederates under General Hood cross the Tennessee River and seize the town of Florence. General Forrest is still near Fort Henry and Fort Heiman where a trap has been constructed on the river to snag Federal vessels. Three craft have been captured in the past two days; two transports and the gunboat ’Undine’.
October 30, 1864 Union General George Thomas moves Federal Troops out of Chattanooga to Pulaski, Tennessee to be in position to meet the invading Army of Tennessee.
October 31, 1864 Nevada enters the United States as the 36th State. Presidential voting has taken place in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania with President Lincoln somewhat assured of re-election. Nevada is expected to give him their 3 electoral votes.
October 31, 1864 Seven Federal vessels commanded by William H. Macomb capture Plymouth, North Carolina. From here, the Federals can control traffic on the Albemarle Sound and the Roanoke River.
November 1, 1864 To help meet the threat of General Hood’s Army, General Alfred J. Smith moves his men to Nashville as reinforcements for General George Thomas.
November 1, 1864 General Forrest takes his captured Federal vessels upriver, stopping at Reynolds Island just south of Johnsonville, Tennessee where he prepares another ambush for enemy ships.

November 23–29, 1864

November 23, 1864 As General Hood continues the march toward Columbia, Tennessee, skirmishes break out at Fouche Springs, Henryville, and Mount Pleasant, Tennessee.
November 23, 1864 The two wings of General Sherman’s army converge on Milledgeville, Georgia where state militia and the Federal’s engage in more fighting. Additional fighting takes place at Ball’s Ferry and at the Georgia Central railroad bridge over the Oconee River.
November 24, 1864 Union General Jacob D. Cox, in charge of General Schofield’s lead unit, arrives in Columbia, Tennessee just in time to assist the Federal Cavalry troops against General Forrest’s Confederate Cavalry, driving them off.
November 25, 1864 Southern arsonists under orders from agents in Canada set fire to ten hotels, two downtown theaters, several other buildings, and P.T. Barnum’s Museum in New York City. None of the fires resulted in serious damage as they were quickly extinguished. In February, 1865 Confederate Captain Robert Cobb Kennedy, an escapee from Johnson’s Island prison and the only arsonist identified, was arrested for setting the Barnum Museum blaze. He was executed on March 23,1865.
November 26, 1864 Sanderson, Georgia is the site of more skirmishing between Confederates and elements of Sherman’s army.
November 26, 1864 In the Nebraska Territory, fighting between Federal soldiers and local Indians sympathetic to the Confederacy takes place at Plum Creek Station and Spring Creek.
November 27, 1864 The siege of Petersburg continues. On the James River, the steamer Greyhound, General Benjamin Butler’s floating headquarters, is damaged by a coal torpedo believed to have been planted by southern saboteurs.
November 27, 1864 General Schofield moves his forces north of the Duck River some 25 miles south of Franklin, Tennessee and burns bridges behind his move. The Confederates of General Hood are believed to be planning their attack from the south.
November 28, 1864 Union General John P. Hatch marches 5,500 men from Hilton Head, South Carolina to transports waiting off shore. Sailing down the Broad River, he intends to land at Boyd’s Neck and march overland to cut the Savannah and Charleston Railroad to stop Confederate troops from moving from Charleston to Savannah as General Sherman approaches that city.
November 28, 1864 Confederate General Thomas L. Rosser leads his cavalry troops on a raid into Maryland where they destroy a bridge on the B&O Railroad. They then move back up the valley into Virginia.
November 28, 1864 General Hood deploys part of his force south of Columbia, Tennessee to give the impression that he will attack from the south. He then shifts the bulk of his army east to cross the Duck River above the town and cut off any Union retreat. General Schofield withdraws his Union force across the Duck River before the trap is sprung. Schofield is alerted by Union Cavalry General James Wilson when General Nathan Forrest’s Cavalry surprises Wilson at Spring Hill and drives his cavalry toward Franklin in defeat.
November 29, 1864 General John P. Hatch with a brigade of infantry, a brigade of sailors, and eight cannon marches from Boyd’s Neck, South Carolina toward Grahamville. The predominately black soldiers are from the Massachusetts 54th and 55th plus the 32nd, 34th and 35th U.S. Colored Troops. Mislead by poor maps, the Federals march and counter march aimlessly for several hours at night. When the Confederates arrive, the battle, sometimes called the battle of Honey Hill, is a disaster for the Union with 89 killed, 629 wounded and 29 missing. Light losses were recorded by the Confederates.

December 21–27, 1864

December 21, 1864 Union General Benjamin H. Grierson, best known for his cavalry raids at Vicksburg, leaves Memphis to destroy the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in northern Alabama and Mississippi.
December 22, 1864 Union General George Stoneman led a cavalry raid to Saltsville in western Virginia and returns to Knoxville. The raid lasted 12 days, covered 460 miles, and his troops capture 900 men and 19 cannon.
December 23, 1864 President Lincoln approves the congressional legislation that created the rank of vice admiral. David G. Farragut is the first to hold the rank, equivalent to a lieutenant general.
December 23, 1864 Benjamin F. Butler and his 65,000 man expedition finally arrives at Fort Fisher aboard warships under David D. Porter’s command. Fort Fisher in Wilmington, North Carolina, is the most formidable coastal fortification in the confederacy. An earth work structure 480 yards long and 60 feet high protects 50 mounted cannon and a 1,500 man garrison under Colonel William Lamb.
December 24, 1864 The USS Louisiana, laden with explosives intended to be detonated under the guns of Fort Fisher, prematurely explodes 250 yards away from the objective, with little damage to the fort. The other 60 warships under Admiral Porter’s control bombard the fort at a rate of 115 shells per minute, also with little damage.
December 25, 1864 General Butler lands 2,200 men 75 yards from Fort Fisher and they move toward the fort, capturing Half Moon Battery as they advance. A strong fire from the 1,500 man garrison and the advance of 500 more men sent by General R.E. Lee checks Butler’s advance. Deciding any further assault could be too costly, Butler withdraws and transports his troops to Hampton Roads.
December 25, 1864 Butler’s hasty retreat results in about 700 Union soldiers remaining trapped on the beach for the next two days.
December 26, 1864 General John B. Hood begins to ferry remaining Confederate troops over the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, Tennessee, en-route to Tupelo, Mississippi. This concludes the ill-fated Nashville campaign.
December 27, 1864 General Grant learns of General Butler’s rebuff at Wilmington and is enraged. The normally docile Grant calls the Fort Fisher attack a complete fiasco and insists that Butler be sacked for “gross and culpable failure”. Butler arrives back at Fortress Monroe.

Civil War Timeline — 1864

Weeks in 1864

January 5–11, 1864

January 12–18, 1864

January 19–25, 1864

January 26 – February 1, 1864

February 2–8, 1864

February 9–15, 1864

February 16–22, 1864

February 23 – March 1, 1864

March 2–8, 1864

March 9–15, 1864

March 16–22, 1864

March 23–29, 1864

March 30 – April 5, 1864

April 6–12, 1864

April 13–19, 1864

April 20–26, 1864

April 27 – May 3, 1864

May 4–10, 1864

May 11–17, 1864

May 18–24, 1864

May 25–31, 1864

June 8–14, 1864

June 15–21, 1864

June 22–28, 1864

July 6–12, 1864

July 20–26, 1864

August 3–9, 1864

August 10–16, 1864

August 17–24, 1864

August 25–30, 1864

September 7–13, 1864

September 14–20, 1864

October 26 – November 1, 1864

November 23–29, 1864

December 21–27, 1864