Today in the WBTS, August 13, 1861 Skirmish near Grafton, West Virginia 1862 Skirmishes at Medon and Gallitan, Tennessee Skirmish at Yellow Creek, Missouri Engagement at Black River, South Carolina Skirmish at Orange Court House, Virginia. Robert E. Lee issues orders in preparation for the Army of Northern Virginias movement north to engage John Popes [US] Army of Virginia Confederate invasion of Kentucky begins. Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith begins an invasion of Kentucky as part of a Confederate plan to draw the Yankee army of General Don Carlos Buell away from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and to raise support for the Southern cause in Kentucky. Smith led 10,000 troops out of Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 14 and moved toward the Cumberland Gap—the first step in the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. After a Federal force evacuated the pass in the face of the invasion, Smith continued north. On August 30, he encountered a more significant force at Richmond, Kentucky. In a decisive battle, the Confederates routed the Yankees and captured most of the 6,000-man army. The Confederates occupied Lexington a few days later. General Braxton Bragg, who moved into Kentucky from Chattanooga, routed a small Union force and sat on Buells supply line. He later linked to Smiths force. In September, Buell followed the Confederates northward. The major encounter in the campaign would come on October 8, when Buell would defeat Braggs army at Perryville, Kentucky. After Perryville, Bragg and Smith retreated back to Tennessee. They succeeded in drawing Buell away from Chattanooga, but they lost the contest for Kentucky. 1863 Skirmish at Pineville, Missouri Skirmish at Jacinto, Mississippi 1864 Skirmish at Searcy, Arkansas. Skirmish at Palatka, Florida Skirmish at Hurricane Creek, Mississippi Actions at Dutch Gap and Four Mile Creek, Affair at Berryville, and a Skirmish near Strasburg, Virginia Deep Bottom Run campaign begins. Sensing a weakness in the Confederate defenses around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, Union General Ulysses S. Grant seeks to break the siege of Petersburg by concentrating his force against one section of the Rebel trenches. However, Grant miscalculated, and the week-long operation that began on August 13 failed to penetrate the Confederate defenses. Grant was operating on the information that General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, was sending part of his force to the Shenandoah Valley to support General Jubal Early, who had spent the summer fending off Union forces and threatening Washington, D.C. Without realizing that this information was false, Grant believed that a section of the Confederate trenches around Deep Bottom Run, between Richmond and Petersburg, was now lightly defended. Grant shipped parts of three corps north across the James River on August 13. Led by General Winfield Scott Hancock, the plan called for a series of attacks along the Confederate fortifications. Beginning on August 14, the Yankees tried for six days to find a weakness. Although a Union force broke through at Fussells Mill, a lack of reinforcements left the Federals vulnerable to a Confederate attack, and the Rebels quickly restored the broken line. The campaign cost 3,000 Union casualties and about 1,500 for the Confederates. The Southern defensive network, stretching over 20 miles, remained intact, but the failed operation prevented Lee from shipping troops to Early in the Shenandoah; Early would soon face defeat at the hands of a larger Union force commanded by General Philip Sheridan.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 11:00:39 +0000
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