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- Mar 3, 2017
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On this day in Civil War history
Compiled by Mitchell Werksman and Jim Klag
February 18, 1817 - Lewis Addison Armistead, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in New Bern, NC. (d. 1863)
February 18, 1825 - With the support of many Northern states, Senator Rufus King of New York introduces a bill calling for the creation of a fund from the sale of public land to carry out gradual emancipation.
February 18, 1829 - Jean Jacques Alfred Mouton, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), born in Opelousas, Louisiana (d. 1864)
February 18, 1851 - At a hearing in Boston escaped slave Shadrach Minkins is taken from court by free blacks. He eventually showed up in Montreal, Canada, out of the reach of the slave hunters.
February 18, 1861 - Jefferson Davis is inaugurated "Provisional President of the Confederate States of America" in Montgomery, Alabama.
February 18, 1861 - February 19, 1861 - Maryland convenes a secessionist convention in Baltimore to consider its options. The convention ends without a declaration of secession.
February 18, 1861 - Bvt. Maj. Gen. David E. Twiggs, USA, commanding the Dept. of Texas, surrenders all US military posts\public property to the Texas authorities, agree US troops are to retain their arms and to retire unmolested. However this is considered by many an act of treason on Twiggs' part.
February 18, 1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln delivers his speeches at Buffalo and Albany, NY, on his way to Washington, DC, still attempting to reconcile any differences between the Northern and Southern States.
February 18, 1862 - The first CSA Congress meets in Richmond, Virginia. Prior to this time, legislative duties had been carried out by secessionist convention.
February 18, 1862 - West Virginia Constitutional Convention adopts the first constitution of the state of West Virginia.
February 18, 1862 - Action at Bentonville, AR, with Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, USA.
February 18, 1862 - Skirmish at Independence, MO.
February 18, 1862 - Federal expedition to Mount Vernon, MO, by Capt. Mudgett, 3rd IA Cavalry. (Feb 18-19)
February 18, 1862 - Federal expedition to Winton, NC and skirmish on Feb 19. (Feb 18-20)
February 18, 1863 - A Democratic Party Convention in Richmond, Kentucky, is broken up by federal authorities because some members were pro-Confederate.
February 18, 1863 - Operations in Central Kentucky, including skirmishes at:
(Feb 22) Coombs' Ferry,
(Feb 24) at Stoner Bridge, and
(Mar 2) at Slate Creek, near Mount Sterling, KY. (Feb 18-
Mar 5)
February 18, 1863 - The South Carolina Militia is called into service.
February 18, 1863 - Affair near Moscow, TN, with the Confederate attack on a Union forage train. The Federals lose 42 mules, 2 horses and 18 men.
February 18, 1863 - Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Wood, USA, is placed in temporary command of the 21st US Army Corps, TN.
February 18, 1863 - Two divisions of Longstreet's Confederate Corps is ordered from the Army of Northern Virginia, near Fredericksburg, VA, to the defense of Richmond, VA.
February 18, 1864 - Alexander Travis Hawthorn, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
February 18, 1864 - Skirmish at Ringgold, GA.
February 18, 1864 - Skirmish at Aberdeen, MS, with Maj. Gen. William Sherman, USA, the Meridian, MS, Expedition.
February 18, 1864 - Affair near Okolona, MS, as Brig. Gen. William S. Smith's, USA, Cavalry forces attempt to join up with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA, at Meridian, MS.
February 18, 1864 - Affair near the headwaters of the Piney River, MO, with guerrillas and bushwhackers sustaining casualties.
February 18, 1864 - Skirmish near Maryville, TN, with fatalities.
February 18, 1864 - Skirmish at Mifflin, TN.
February 18, 1864 - Federal scout from Ooltewah, TN, to Burke's and to Ellidge's Mills, GA, with a brief skirmish with Rebel pickets. (Feb 18-19)
February 18, 1864 - Skirmish at Sevierville, TN.
February 18, 1865 - The siege of Petersburg is ongoing.
February 18, 1865 - The following are appointed Confederate Brigadier Generals:
Collett Leventhorpe, CSA
William Raine Peck, CSA
Reuben Lindsay Walker, CSA
February 18, 1865 - Galusha Pennypacker, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
February 18, 1865 - The Confederate commerce raider, CSS Shenandoah, leaves the port of Melbourne, Australia.
February 18, 1865 - The Confederate guerrilla attack on Fort Jones, near Colesburg, KY, the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery sustaining fatalities.
February 18, 1865 - Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer, USA, assumes the command of the Dept. of Kentucky.
February 18, 1865 - The 13th and the 16th US Army Corps are constituted; the former from the Reserve Corps, the Military Division of West Mississippi, the latter from the troops arriving from the Army of the Cumberland, MO.
February 18, 1865 - Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, USA, is assigned to the command of the 13th US Army Corps, MO.
February 18, 1865 - Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith, USA, is assigned to the command of the 16th US Army Corps, MO.
February 18, 1865 - Action at Fort Anderson, near Wilmington, NC, as Maj. Gen. Jacob Dolson Cox, USA, lands his troops, and advances on the fort while the US Navy bombards the fort.
February 18, 1865 - Skirmish at Orton Pond, NC.
February 18, 1865 - The Union forces, led by Brig. Gen. Alexander Schimmelfennig, USA, of Maj. Gen. Sherman's army, occupies Charleston, SC.
February 18, 1865 - Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA, orders the burning of all important buildings, railroad tracks, and military stores that were not already burned by the fire that swept through Columbia, SC.
February 18, 1865 - Federal expedition from Camp Averell (near Winchester) into Loudoun County, VA, and skirmish (Feb 19) at Ashby's Gap, as the Federals take 2 deserters from Lieut. Col. John S. Mosby's, CSA, command along to point out the houses that belonged to Mosby's men. The Yankees find themselves attacked by a superior Cavalry force, with the majority of the expeditionary force killed, captured, or wounded. (78 men). (Feb 18-19)
February 18, 1865 - Federal scout in Prince William County, VA, with the destruction of Rebel property. (Feb 18-19)
February 18, 1870 - Texas ratifies the 14th Amendment.
February 18, 1913 - George Washington Custis Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 80 in Alexandria, VA.