Fascinating Small Battles

[leftyhunter]

I've always been fascinated by special operations or raid-type operations in early American history.

Some that come to mind.

• Captures of the USS Underwiter & USS Water Witch
• "Stovepipe" Johnson's raid on Newburgh, Indiana
• Morgan's Raid from Tennessee up through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio
• Burning of the Judah in Pensacola by U.S. Marines and sailors
• Raid on the CSS Albemarle
• Mosby's Fairfax Raid
• St. Albans Raid in Vermont
• Other abortive raids and operations from Canada
• Grierson's Raid

The list goes on.

If you're interested in special forces type battles you might want to do some research on Col.Kirk commander of the First and Second North Carolina Union Mounted Cavalry. I have posted some information about him in my thread "Union vs CSA guerrillas has has another poster. Kirk was a very controversial leader but he was bold and took the fight to the enemy.
Leftyhunter

 

[Patrick H]

Howdy and welcome. To answer your question, I will first state that I'm a resident of Boonville, Missouri. Thus, I am very interested in the fight that occurred here on June 17, 1861. If you look it up online, you are apt to see it described as "The Boonville Races", but that is a pejorative given to it by St. Louis journalists. In his after-action report, Nathaniel Lyon said his troops received a "galling fire" for quite a while on one of their flanks. He used cannon and superior numbers to drive the Missouri State Guard from the field in disarray. Lyon had (depending on whom you read) about
2,500 well trained troops with him. I am not sure there is an accurate count of the state guard troops in this fight. But I'll tell you this much: At least a few thousand troops were engaged and the hot-headed Union officer reported that the state guard gave his men a "galling fire". That was not reported in the St. Louis newspapers. Ergo, This fight was one of the earliest in the entire war and I would dearly love to read an impartial account of it. The problem is that I don't think an impartial account exists.

 

[corn-fed-erate]

John Taylor Wood and the Underwriter
Cushing and the Albemarle
Poplar Point
Ambush at Daniel's Schoolhouse ( Potter's Raid on Tarboro/Rock Mount NC)

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Howdy and welcome. To answer your question, I will first state that I'm a resident of Boonville, Missouri. Thus, I am very interested in the fight that occurred here on June 17, 1861. If you look it up online, you are apt to see it described as "The Boonville Races", but that is a pejorative given to it by St. Louis journalists. In his after-action report, Nathaniel Lyon said his troops received a "galling fire" for quite a while on one of their flanks. He used cannon and superior numbers to drive the Missouri State Guard from the field in disarray. Lyon had (depending on whom you read) about
2,500 well trained troops with him. I am not sure there is an accurate count of the state guard troops in this fight. But I'll tell you this much: At least a few thousand troops were engaged and the hot-headed Union officer reported that the state guard gave his men a "galling fire". That was not reported in the St. Louis newspapers. Ergo, This fight was one of the earliest in the entire war and I would dearly love to read an impartial account of it. The problem is that I don't think an impartial account exists.

Hi, Pat.....

My little sister lives in Boonville, Missouri.

Nice to meet you!

Bill

 

[ceddco]

Tullahoma Campaign. Small in casualties, huge in just about everything else.

 

[NedBaldwin]

Personally, I think we are all in love and fascinated by the large scale battles - Gettysburg, Antietam, Wilderness, Shiloh, and Chickamauga.

But what smaller scale action are you fascinated by? For me, it would be a toss up between Ball's Bluff, the battles that comprised Burnside's North Carolina Expedition, and the September 1863 battle of Sabine Pass in Texas.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Donald Frazier's books on the war in Louisiana is his exciting descriptions of the small battles -- Georgia Landing, Bayou Teche, destruction of USS Indianola, capture of USS Diana, Fort Bisland, Grand Lake, Irish Bend, Brashear City, Fort Butler.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

All the little Battles of the Tullahoma Campaign but especially Hoover's Gap
The Battle of Utoy Creek
The Battle of Tazewell

 

[Jamieva]

Chester Station

 

[Lord of Mirkwood]

I've always liked the Tullahoma Campaign as well. I mean, it cleared much of Tennessee in just over a week, but it's barely made it to the history books. Probably doesn't help that Gettysburg and Vicksburg occurred at the exact same time.

 

[M Anthony Young]

Allatoona Pass-pretty brutal whatever its size.

 

[TomP]

Tupelo/Harrisburg
Brice's Crossroads
Holly Springs Raid

 

[Chattahooch33]

Everything that happened between the Battles of Missionary Ridge and Kennesaw Mountain. Then the constant sniping and skirmishing during the siege of ATL.

 

[DixieRifles]

The Museum sent it out to a shop to be refurbished. The shop called back to say the barrel was too short for that gun --- is it a Blakely?

I had the wrong name for the cannon. Here is a quote I found:

As a local park created after land was donated by the Pillow family, Fort Pemberton seems largely forgotten. An abandoned concrete base on the southwest corner of the green bears the inscription: "Lady Polk, presented by Mildred Maury Humphreys Chapter No. 1198 U.D.C. Itta Bena, Miss., Oct. 20, 1933" even through the Lady Polk, a 12-pounder Blakely cannon has been at Greenwood's Cottonlandia Museum for safekeeping for a couple of decades now.

Here is a photo of the cannon in the museum which was renamed as the Museum of The Mississippi Delta. The Museum was rennonvated last year and I don't know how it is displayed now.

 

[NFB22]

The Battle of Corydon and Buffington Island have always interested me as well. Morgan's Raid has always interested me being as it spread into Indiana

 

[5fish]

My two small Battles are Fort Pocahontas(Battle of Wilson's Wharf) and Miliken's bend. Both involved outnumbered and inexperience Color troops fighting and defeating seasoned confederate troops, with the help of union navy gunboats...

 

[Championhilz]

I had the wrong name for the cannon. Here is a quote I found:



Here is a photo of the cannon in the museum which was renamed as the Museum of The Mississippi Delta. The Museum was rennonvated last year and I don't know how it is displayed now.


View attachment 92399

The reenactment unit I belonged to at the time, Turner's Battery (Battery C, 1st Mississippi Light Artillery), paid to have the cannon refurbished. It was sent up to Paulson Brothers Ordnance in Clear Lake Wisconsin, and they did indeed find that the gun was still loaded. They tried very hard to get the round out intact, but it defied their best efforts, and eventually they had to have it drilled out. When they got the remains of the round out of the barrel, they found several friction primers stuck in the barrel where someone had tried to fire that last projectile out. The photo that can be seen behind the cannon in the museum is of Turner's Battery - If I remember correctly, it was taken at Okolona, Mississippi, sometime in the 1990s.

 

[spurs716]

My vote is for the First Battle of Murfreesboro. Very typical Forrest tactics using surprise and deception to overcome a larger force.

 

[Barnesville Blues]

The Battle of the Cedar's is another good one, also sometimes called the Battle of Wilkinson's Pike and the 3rd Battle of Murfreesboro, only battle I am aware of where Forrest commanded Cavalry, Infantry, and Artillery.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

The Battle of Corydon and Buffington Island have always interested me as well. Morgan's Raid has always interested me being as it spread into Indiana

I just received my copy of this book......

Bill

 

[Blessmag]

If you include skirmishes, Clarendon and the sinking of the Queen City