04/04, April 4th In Civil War history

Jimklag

Lt. Colonel
Joined
Mar 3, 2017
Location
Chicagoland
This date in Civil War history
Compiled by Mitchell Werksman and Jim Klag

April 4, 1831 - Edward Cary Walthall, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Richmond, Virginia (d. 1898)

April 4, 1841 - William Henry Harrison dies, becoming the first U. S. President to die in office. He is succeeded by John Tyler.

April 4, 1853 - Tad Lincoln, youngest son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, born in Springfield, Illinois (d. 1871)

April 4, 1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show

April 4, 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln writes a letter to Maj. Robert Anderson, USA, to hold Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, SC.

April 4, 1861 - The Virginia State Convention votes against holding a referendum on secession by the vote of 89-45.

April 4, 1862 - From Fort Monroe the Army of the Potomac begins movement towards Richmond - Peninsula campaign.

April 4, 1862 - Affair at Table Bluff, CA

April 4, 1862- Under the cover of darkness and a severe thunderstorm, the USS Carondelet, runs the Confederate batteries at Island No. 10, passing below the fort through a canal cut by the Union forces.

April 4, 1863 - Skirmish at Lawrenceburg, TN, with Brig. Gen. Milo S. Hascall, USA.

April 4, 1862 - Skirmish near Pittsburg Landing, at Crump's Landing, or Adamsville, TN, as Gen. Albert S. Johnston, CSA, advances toward Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA.

April 4, 1862 - Skirmish at Howard's Mills near Cockletown, VA.

April 4, 1862 - Skirmish at Great Bethel, VA.

April 4, 1862 - The Depts. of the Rappahannock (under Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell) and the Shenandoah (under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks) are constituted, VA.

April 4, 1862 - The 1st US Army Corps (McDowell's) is detached from the Army of the Potomac and is merged into the Dept. of the Rappahannock, VA, which places McDowell in a position to protect Washington, DC.

April 4, 1862 - The 5th US Army Corps (Bank's) is merged into the Dept. of the Shenandoah, VA.
April 4, 1863 - Skirmish at Richmond, LA.

April 4, 1863 - Engagement at Rodman's Point, near Washington, NC, between Union gunboats and the Confederate batteries. (Apr 4-5)

April 4, 1863 - Skirmish on the Lewisburg Pike, TN.

April 4, 1863 - Skirmish on Nonconnah Creek, near Memphis, TN.

April 4, 1863 - Skirmish at Woodbury, TN.

April 4, 1863 - Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Wilcox, USA, is temporarily in command of the 9th US Army Corps, the Dept. of the Ohio, TN.

April 4, 1863 - President Lincoln travels to Fredericksburg, VA, to meet with Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, USA, to discuss military strategy.

April 4, 1864 - Skirmish at Charlestown, AR.

April 4, 1864 - Skirmishes at Roseville, AR, 45 miles from Fort Smith, AR. (Apr 4-5)

April 4, 1864 - Skirmish at Campti, LA, on the Red River.

April 4, 1864 - The 11th and the 12th US Army Corps are consolidated as the 20th US Army Corps, under the command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, USA, TN, with the following assignments: Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, USA, supersedes Maj. Gen. George Stoneman, USA, in the command of the 23rd US Army Corps. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, USA, is then assigned to the command of the 23rd US Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, TN, superseding Brig. Gen Jacob D. Cox, USA VA, superseding Brig. Gen. David McGregg, USA.

April 4, 1864 - Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, USA, is ordered to proceed with all available forces to Fort Monroe, VA.

April 4, 1864 - US House of Representatives passes a resolution denouncing any intentions by Napoleon III of France to install a monarchy in Mexico under Maximilian.

April 4, 1864 - Major General Philip Sheridan moves from command of an infantry division in the Army of the Cumberland to command cavalry in the Army of the Potomac

April 4, 1865 - President Lincoln visits Richmond, walking to the Confederate White House among cheering crowds, mostly freed slaves. A detachment of 10 men protected him.

April 4, 1865 - Battle of Jetersville, Virginia.

April 4, 11865 - The Union Cavalry troops, under Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson, USA, occupy Tuscaloos, AL.

April 4, 1865 - Skirmishes at East River Bridge, FL. (Apr 4-5)

April 4, 1865 - The capture of the steamer, Harriet De Ford, near Fair Haven, Chesapeake Bay, MD, as Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, sends Capt. Fitzhugh, 5th VA Cavalry and some of his men, in hopes of capturing one of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's supply vessels, using Maj. John S. Mosby's men to transport the badly needed supplies to Lee's men in the trenches around Petersburg and Richmond. Unable to capture the Eolus, Titan, or the Highland Light, Fitzhugh captures the Harriet De Ford, boarding the vessel disguised as wood choppers. Upon moving up the Chesapeake Bay, he hears the guns blasting around Petersburg, which are celebrating the Union victory there. Fitzhugh desperately attempts to get the supplies to Lee, but is pursued by Union gunboats, he runs the vessel aground, taking what supplies he could.

April 4, 1865 - Maj. Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder, CSA, assumes the command of the Confederate District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

April 4, 1865 - Skirmish at Amelia Court-House, VA, as Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, does not receive supplies at Richmond and Lynchburg to feed his army. Lee's route toward North Carolina is blocked as Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, arrives at Jetersville, which is southwest of Amelia Court-House and his men block the Danville Railroad. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, USA, is closing in from the east, the Appomattox, VA, Campaign.(Apr 4-5)

April 4, 1865 - Skirmish at Tabernacle Church, or Beaver Pond Creek, VA, the Appomattox, VA, Campaign.

April 4, 1959 - Maryland ratifies the 14th Amendment
 
"April 4, 1862- Under the cover of darkness and a severe thunderstorm, the USS Carondelet, runs the Confederate batteries at Island No. 10, passing below the fort through a canal cut by the Union forces."

Why Farragut and Grant thought a canal to shorten the run past the Vicksburg batteries should be attempted.
 
I am currently parked at the William Henry Harrison Tomb in North Bend, Ohio.

FB_IMG_1522843466249.jpg
 
Medal Of Honor Recipients

Thomas Riley
Birth: Ireland.
Private, Company D, 1st Louisiana Cavalry.
CITATION:
Captured the flag of the 6th Alabama Cavalry at Fort Blakely, Ala., 4 April 1865.


William J. Brewer
Born: 1843
Putnam County, New York

Private, Company C, 2nd New York Cavalry
CITATION:
Captured the
Engineer Flag, Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Campaign, Virginia, April 4th, 1865




 
ON this day in 1862, Commander Henry Walke and the USS Carondelet runs the guns of Island No. 10.

This what Admiral Walke had to say about running the guns of Island No. 10 in a long interview in the Brooklyn Eagle on November 4, 1888.

"Did you not in the Carondelet run the blockade at Island No. 10?"
"I did, and without egotism, as I think it has been generally acknowledged, unquestionably the whole result of General Pope's operations depended upon that achievement, from which resulted the raising of the blockade. Forty-seven shots were fired at the' Carondelet from the rebel batteries, but not one struck her. The 4th of April, 1862, was selected for the trial and at 10 o'clock on the night of that day we cast loose for New Madrid. The Carondelet was flanked on both sides with barges piled with hay for protection.
The machinery was "so adjusted as to allow the escape of the steam through the wheelhouse and thus avoid the puffing sound which accompanies its escape through the pipes in the ordinary way. It was this arrangement which led to the discovery of the boat by the rebel batteries, for, the boat not moistened as usual by the steam, caught fire twice and blazed up at least five feet above the smoke stacks. The scene was the grandest I have ever witnessed and the perilousness of our situation added to the excitement. A heavy thunderstorm was raging and between the peals of the thunder and the vivid flashes of lightning came the sullen roar and flash of the rebel cannon. We were exposed to thirty minutes’ uninterrupted fire from four batteries on the Kentucky shore and one at the head of the island. The passage was made in two hours and, as I said before, not a shot struck us."

ps: The Brooklyn Eagle can be accessed online on the Fulton History, Library of Congress' Chronicling America and the Brooklyn Public Library's websites
 
Back
Top