Today in U.S. Civil War History Sept 3, 1863 - Vicksburg had fallen to siege on July 4. Part of the terms of surrender negotiated by Gen. John C. Pemberton was that his men, all 27,000 of them, would be paroled en masse and given a 30-day furlough, which was the time during which they would not be permitted to take up arms against the enemy. The men were to go to their homes, take care of necessary business and visit their families, then return to Pemberton’s command. The problem was with Part 3...the thirty days were up and an awful lot of his men were forgetting the part about returning to the army. Since they had not gone through the usual process of exchange they could not legally be used for fighting anyway, but these niceties were beginning to go by the wayside. September 3, 1864 - SUDDEN SCUFFLE SURPRISES SHERIDAN - Gen. Jubal Early had been sent North on a desperate mission: wreak havoc and terrify the citizenry that Washington was about to be captured. This, the thinking went, would cause Lincoln to recall part--or maybe even all--of Grant’s army besieging Petersburg. In this Early had failed, and Lee was beginning to pressure him to get back to help with the defense. Early sent R.H. Anderson’s corps back today, but as they were heading up the Shenandoah Valley they ran into a corps of Gen. Phil Sheridan’s army. The battle, although a genuine surprise to both sides, was quite fierce for awhile and Anderson retreated back to Early’s main force.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 10:43:59 +0000
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