question for the board - Night Battles

[formerYank]

Greetings All,

Being a gathering place for some of the best Civil War students around, I'd like to post this little question to y'all.



In addition to Franklin, TN., November 30, 1864 what other Civil War battle(s) were fought at night?

Thanks very much!

Former Yank

[whitworth]

There were a number that were fought through dusk into the early evening. One real night battle was at Wauhatchie, Lookout Valley on Oct. 28, 1863.

One arms problem was loading a muzzleloader in the dark. Many of the Confederate soldiers, due to a poor diet, had night blindness.

[ole]

There must have been a few fracases planned to be fought at night, but the only ones I can think of were started in the late daylight and went on a few hours into the darkness.

Hadn't heard that one, Whitworth, could be. But I'd think that it would be more than an obscure guess if there was much weight to it.

An army might march at night in familiar territory on a bright, moonlit night; but even on the brightest nights, getting into a fight means you can't see well enough to maneuver or to shoot anywhere but in the general direction of where you think the enemy might be.

just a thought.

ole

[Dred]

Spotsylvania comes to mind. On May 12th the attack started at 5 AM and went on until 3 AM the next morning. And that was close vicious hand to hand fighting for a while as well.

Also, something comes to mind about a night battle during the Vicksburg campaign. Crossing all those flooded farms and such I believe I remember hearing described how they knew where to shoot the enemy because of the silhouettes on the rise against the moonlight.

[unionblue]

formerYank,

How about the Confederate attempt to break the Union line at Petersburg, March 25, 1865? Confederate forces attacked at night hoping to break out after attacking a Union fort in the line named Fort Stedman.

It was launched at 4AM and the Confederates managed to punch a clean hole in the Union line but they could not widen it enough to mount a new attack that would break the secondary defenses, and by 8AM Gen. Lee sounded the recall.

In the end the attack cost Lee's army 4,000 men--twice the total of Union casualties--and the lines were as they had been before. This attack was the last great offensive thrust of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[johan_steele]

Look to the fighting around Atlanta, the CS launched several small but highly succesful hit and fade attacks IIRC there were three before the US boys figured it out. All accomplished at night.

I'm nowhere near my resources for a while, hopefully one of the scholars here can fill in the details.

[blue_zouave]

There was some night fighting during the battle of Chickamauga as well. I'll have to dig out Cozzens and find out which night it was.

Zou

[ole]

It was launched at 4AM and the Confederates managed to punch a clean hole in the Union line but they could not widen it enough to mount a new attack that would break the secondary defenses, and by 8AM Gen. Lee sounded the recall.

Might fit the profile, Blue, but attacks were often started before military dawn with the anticipation that it would be light enough to see by the time serious contact was made.

Read somewhere that there were a number of gradations of light--in the morning as well as at night. Would very much like to read that again, if I could find it. Seems it was like full-dark, military dawn, sun-up and full light, but I disremember. Something about being enough light to walk by, enough light to see the enemy, enough light to aim and shoot and, of course, daylight.

Would you happen to know when the sun broke the horizon on March 25, 1865? It would have been "military dawn" some minutes before that. (I think.)

ole

[unionblue]

Ole,

I cannot determine the time of sunrise for the date I have given, but in the book it states:

"It was four in the morning of March 25, 1865, black and still as polar midnight, with never a sound from the picket lines. Half a mile north of Ft. Stedman was another Union strong point, Ft. McGilvery, and a sergeant in this fort peered off to the south, listened intently, and then went to rouse his commanding officer: "Captain, there is some disturbance on our left in the direction of Ft. Stedman, but I can't make out what it is." The captain went to have a look, and the men could see a few pin-p r i c k s of flame, and then they could hear scattered musket fire. Then they saw one of Stedman's cannon fired--not in front, toward the Rebel army, but off to the rear."

I get the impression that this attack was made in the dark from the (highlighted) statements made above. I also have the impression that I have read somewhere that Gen. Gordan, the CSA commander who led the attack, along with Gen. Lee, purposefully attacked in the dark to try and achieve complete surprise.

The following site gives a very detailed description of the assualt on Ft. Stedman.

Pre-Dawn Assault on Fort Stedman

http://www.historynet.com/magazines/...r/3034191.html

And here is a National Park Service Petersburg website with some excellent color maps of the battle of Fort Sedman.

http://www.nps.gov/pete/historyculture/fort-stedman.htm

And here is a painting of Fort Stedman being retaken by Union forces. Click on the painting to see a larger image.

http://www.100thpenn.com/fortstedpaint.htm

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[5fish]

I know there was one civil war battle that was fought at night only but I been unable to find it's name again. It was a smaller engagement tried to a bigger battle.

I finally found the name of the small battle that was started at night and finished within the same night. "The battle wauhatchie" or "Browne's Ferry". It was fought over in Tenn.

I am off my game for I see Whitworth had already posted the battles name. I did not write about the mule charge during the battle.