What was the most significant event on August 22 during the U.S. Civil War?

In 1862, J.E.B. Stuart seized Maj Gen John Pope’s dress uniform with overcoat in a raid on Pope’s headquarters at Catlett’s Station. A days earlier, Stuart had lost his signature plumed hat to a surprise Yankee raid and he wrote to Pope suggesting an "exchange of prisoners." [Plumed hat for Dress overcoat] Pope did not respond.
In 1863 in the eastern theatre, the gunboats USS Reliance and the USS Satellite were captured by the Confederate Navy just off the mouth of the Rappahannock River.
In 1863, “As if Jefferson Davis did not have enough problems to contend with. He was supposed to be finding reinforcements to shore up Gen. Braxton Bragg’s shaky hold on Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee; coping with the loss of Vicksburg and thereby the entire trans-Mississippi portion of the Confederacy; scrounging up food, horseshoes and other vital supplies for Robert E. Lee’s army in northern Virginia. To top it off he was now having difficulty even finding out what was going on. The postal clerks of the city of Richmond had all quit. The entire workforce walked out in a wage dispute with the government. Letters from Aunt Gertrude and reports from the field were all sitting in bags, undelivered.”
In 1863 in the western theater of East Tennessee, CSA General Simon Bolivar Buckner took 8,000 men and abandoned Knoxville, much to the consternation of Confederate supporters in the region. However, garrisons were left at key points.
In 1864, the ten articles of the first treaty of the Geneva Convention were initially adopted by twelve nations. The treaty helped form the International Red Cross in Geneva. Clara Barton was instrumental in campaigning for the ratification of the 1864 Geneva Convention by the United States, which eventually ratified it in 1882.

Below are a number of journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. In 1861, R.N. STEMBEL notifies Colonel OGLESBY that the U.S.S. Lexington had captured a rebel steamer. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln answers Editor Horace Greeley’s editorial of Aug. 20, just two days ago, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions".
Thursday, August, 22, 1861: U.S.S. Lexington seizes rebel steamer. To Colonel OGLESBY, Commander Military Post, Cairo, Ill. From U.S. GUNBOAT LEXINGTON, Cairo, August 22, 1861. “COLONEL: Agreeably to your verbal order, communicated to me at midnight of the 21st instant, I got under way, and proceeded to Paducah, Ky., where I arrived at 7.03 a.m. The gentleman you placed on board to designate the steamer employed in the rebel trade and carrying their flag pointed out the W. B. Terry as being the vessel thus illegally engaged. I ran alongside of her, cut her out, made her fast to the Lexington, and immediately returned to this anchorage and placed her in your possession. I was not opposed in the performance of this duty by either the citizens of Paducah or the officers and crew of the Terry, for the latter, evidently suspecting my object, left the boat hastily, with such articles of clothing as were at hand. I was therefore unsuccessful in capturing any of them. Very respectfully, your obedient servant R.N. STEMBEL, Commander, U. S. Navy.”
Friday, August 22, 1862: “Pres. Abraham Lincoln, in one of the most influential and historically significant documents he ever wrote, answers Editor Horace Greeley’s editorial of Aug. 20, just two days ago, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," with this letter, (which Greeley later publishes). In it, notice Lincoln’s tact and tone, as well as his insistence upon restricting his reach of power within its Constitutional limits:” EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington. “Honorable HORACE GREELEY: DEAR SIR: I have just read yours of the 19th addressed to myself through the New York Tribune.* If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
　　　As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by feeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when they are shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
　　　 I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.
　　　Yours, A. LINCOLN.”
Friday, August 22, 1862: George Michael Neese, of the Confederate Horse Artillery, writes in his journal of a cannon duel between his battery and a Yankee battery near the Rappahannock River. Then his battery is ordered to limber up and follow with Stuart’s cavalry up around the Federal army to Catlett’s Station for the raid. But the lightning storm breaks upon them along with a torrential rain, and we have Neese’s vivid and picturesque description of the storm: “Soon after nightfall it commenced raining again, and shower after shower of the heaviest sort from the blackest clouds I ever saw kept pouring down till nearly midnight, while blinding flashes of lightning leaped in quick succession from the inky-hued clouds overhead and shot their fiery streams like burning rivers through the thick gloomy darkness that draped the chamber of night. At one moment the lightning
’s dazzling glare rent the curtain of night and flashed its brilliant glow over the landscape, making the woods, fields, and hills appear as though they were basking in the full glory of a midday sun; the next moment the black tide of night rushed over the scene and blotted everything into nothingness. On account of the darkness, rain and deep mud we made slow progress in marching for a raid. The cavalry were all way ahead of us. We did not see or hear a sign of them anywhere, consequently toward midnight we halted in the road where the water and mud was just half knee deep. I was wet all over, and through. Cold, chilly, hungry, and sleepy all at the same time, I put myself in as small a package as I could and sat on the limber chest for three long weary hours, with wakeful dreamy visions of a good, warm, dry bed chasing one another all over me. . . . About midnight, or a little after, General Stuart through rain, storm, and darkness charged into the enemy’s encampment at Catlett’s, surprised the Yanks and drove them from their tents scatteringly into the darkness, captured some prisoners and about one hundred horses, and destroyed eighty wagons.
General Pope has his headquarters at Catlett’s, and I heard that General Stuart captured his uniform coat and his code of signals to-night. If General Pope wants to save his shirt he better keep his headquarters in the saddle or else he will see something of the Rebels some of these fine nights besides their backs.”
Saturday, August 22, 1863: Oliver Norton Willcox, a Union soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, writes home, commenting on the viciously hot weather in Virginia, the food, darftees and substitutes, and the new commander of the brigade: “Beverly Ford, Va., August 22, 1863. Dear Parents:— I received a piece of paper from E. a few days since, saying that he had received my letter and would answer it soon. The answer has not come yet. The envelope contained the perfumery I sent for, and, if it is not effectual, I don’t know of anything that would be. Fortunately, I am not troubled with the “crumbs” now. All the men who ever are rid of them are so now. A good boiling does the business, but there are some who would be lousy if they had every convenience and a year’s time, and just as soon as we start on a march again they will be all over. “All is quiet on the Rappahannock” yet. The hot weather paralyzes both armies, but lying still they are gaining. The flies are so troublesome that horses do not gain so fast as they would in cooler weather, but they still improve some. Many of the cavalry regiments and batteries are getting new horses.
The commissary is issuing soft bread two days out of three, nice fresh bread, too, and, oh, if we had some butter! He issues small rations of potatoes and dried apples occasionally, and dessicated vegetables. I presume you have never seen any of this last. It is in square cakes an inch thick and seems to consist of potato, carrot, turnip, onion, cabbage, red pepper, etc., scalded and then pressed and dried. I am confident that if we could learn how to cook it we should like it. We are all hungry for vegetables, but I cannot cook it nor have I seen any one who could so that it will be good. We have put in fresh beef and made soup of it, and we have boiled it down dry and tried it every way we can think of, and don’t succeed yet. The fault seems to be that each vegetable loses its individual flavor in the cooking and all blend together in a nondescript sort of a dish that isn’t good a bit.
The principal topics of news in camp are the arrival of the conscripts and the departure of Colonel Rice. Captain Judson came down from Philadelphia this week with two hundred men for the Eighty-third, and he has gone back for more. Of the two hundred but three men, so they say, were drafted. All the rest are substitutes, and most of them two years and nine months men. They seem to be pretty hard nuts. They are very quiet here, but Captain Judson says they had quite a tendency to get lost on their way down.
Colonel Rice’s “eagles” have been setting a good while, and the other morning on waking he found they had hatched a pair of “stars” and “marching orders” to report in Baltimore, and with many thanks to the eagles he proceeded to obey immediately. The senior officer of the brigade now is Colonel Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine, a former professor in a college and a very fine man, though but little posted in military matters. He is absent now on sick leave, though about to return, I hear.”

Monday, August 22, 1864: The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut “August 22d. - Hope I may never know a raid except from hearsay. Mrs. Huger describes the one at Athens. The proudest and most timid of women were running madly in the streets, corsets in one hand, stockings in the other- déshabillé as far as it will go, Mobile is half taken. The railroad between us and Richmond has been tapped.
Notes from a letter written by a young lady who is riding a high horse. Her fiancé, a maimed hero, has been abused. "You say to me with a sneer, 'So you love that man.' Yes, I do, and I thank God that I love better than all the world the man who is to be my husband. 'Proud of him, are you?' Yes, I am, in exact proportion to my love. You say, ' I am selfish.' Yes, I am selfish. He is my second self, so utterly absorbed am I in him. There is not a moment, day or night, that I do not think of him. In point of fact, I do not think of anything else." No reply was deemed necessary by the astounded recipient of this outburst of indignation, who showed me the letter and continued to observe: "Did you ever? She seems so shy, so timid, so cold."
Sunday Isabella took us to a chapel, Methodist, of course; her father had a hand in building it. It was not clean, but it was crowded, hot, and stuffy. An eloquent man preached with a delightful voice and wonderful fluency; nearly eloquent, and at times nearly ridiculous. He described a scene during one of his sermons when "beautiful young faces were turned up to me, radiant faces though bathed in tears, moral rainbows of emotion playing over them," etc.
He then described his own conversion, and stripped himself naked morally. All that is very revolting to one's innate sense of decency. He tackled the patriarchs. Adam, Noah, and so on down to Joseph, who was "a man whose modesty and purity were so transcendent they enabled him to resist the greatest temptation to which fallen man is exposed." "Fiddlesticks! that is played out!" my neighbor whispered. "Everybody gives up now that old Mrs. Pharaoh was forty." "Mrs. Potiphar, you goose, and she was fifty!" "That solves the riddle." "Sh-sh!!" from the devout Isabella.
At home met General Preston on the piazza. He was vastly entertaining. Gave us Darwin, Herodotus, and Livy. We understood him and were delighted, but we did not know enough to be sure when it was his own wisdom or when wise saws and cheering words came from the authors of whom he spoke.”

Pictures: 1861 USS Lexington timberclad gunboat; 1862-08-22 c-58 second Manassas campaign - Stuart's Catlett station raid; 1863-08-22 swamp angel firing at Charleston; 1862-08-22 USA pickets of the Louisiana Native Guard


A. Thursday, August, 22, 1861: U.S.S. Lexington seizes rebel steamer, CSS W.B. Terry and the mail steamboat, Samuel Orr, at Paducah, Kentucky. On August 12, 1861 the converted riverboat Lexington was taken into U.S. service as the "timberclad" gunboat USS Lexington. As part of her conversion, the Lexington was planked over with thick wooden sides and armed with four 8-inch Dahlgren guns and two 32-pounder cannon. Only ten days later, the Lexington was in action against a rebel steamer reported to be at Paducah, Kentucky.
B. Friday, August 22, 1862: CSA Maj Gen J.E.B. Stuart, with Lee’s cavalry, precedes the infantry, looking for a good ford across the Rappahannock. Raid on Catlett’s Station: Gen. Stuart, finding no one to oppose him in the Federal right rear, rode to Catlett’s Station on the railroad, and bags the 100 Pennsylvania troops there who are guarding Pope’s supplies and the railroad. Stuart’s cavalry capture much of the supplies and destroy as much as they can, but heavy rains prevent them from burning the railroad bridge there. Stuart raids Pope’s headquarters, taking his papers, maps, and dress uniform with overcoat. He got into Pope’s headquarters and captured some command officers and Pope’s dispatch book. This book had vital information in it that Maj Gen George B. McClellan’s force will arrive soon. This was critical information for Robert E. Lee. This raid continued to build on Stuart’s growing reputation as an outstanding if unconventional cavalry officer.
B+ Friday, August 22, 1862: Northern Virginia: Gen. Pope’s army is now all behind the Rappahannock River. He is worried about his left flank: if the Rebels were to turn that flank, they could cut him off from Washington and McClellan’s reinforcements. However, Gen. Lee determines to let Pope stew about his left flank, and to march by the Union right flank, instead. Jackson and Longstreet begin sidestepping to the West, in an effort to shield their movement behind the Bull Run Mountains, a string of low, ragged hills parallel with the higher Blue Ridge farther west. Gen. Stuart, with Lee’s cavalry, precedes the infantry, looking for a good ford across the Rappahannock. Raid on Catlett’s Station: Gen. Stuart, finding no one to oppose him in the Federal right rear, rides to Catlett’s Station on the railroad, and bags the 100 Pennsylvania troops there who are guarding Pope’s supplies and the railroad. Stuart’s cavalry capture much of the supplies and destroy as much as they can, but heavy rains prevent them from burning the railroad bridge there. Stuart raids Pope’s headquarters, taking his papers, maps, and dress uniform with overcoat. (Some days previous, Stuart lost his signature plumed hat to a surprise Yankee raid, and he writes to Pope, suggesting an "exchange of prisoners." Pope does not respond.)
C. Saturday, August 22, 1863: As the South had not agreed to the North’s demands, the Swamp Angel” fired its first shot at downtown Charleston at 01:30 AM from Morris Island. The gunners could not actually see their target but artillery officers had spent the previous day working out the necessary predicted range (5 ½ miles) and angle of fire. In total twelve shots were fired in quick succession, including four incendiary rounds.
D. Monday, August 22, 1864: Lt Gen U.S. Grant knew if he could control all the railways into the area around Petersburg and Richmond, it would only be a matter of time before the Confederacy would be so starved of all supplies. General Robert E. Lee was still wanting prisoner exchanges. In the last few days of fighting, Grant’s Federal forces had lost about 4500 casualties, but large numbers of those were prisoners, not fatalities. Grant could afford to lose the men, and afford to feed the prisoners he took. He knew that Lee’s situation was precisely the opposite. It would, however, be very hard on the Union captives which would be sent to the Prisoner of War Prison at Andersonville, GA.


1. Thursday, August 22, 1861: The Vicksburg Whig says that nearly every lady, old and young, in Warren county is busily engaged knitting socks for the soldiers—and that the result of their labor will soon be collected together, and sent on to the army. The worthy example should be followed in every county, city and town throughout the South. The New York Times writes, “With increasing numbers of Indian attacks on stagecoaches and settlers, U.S. forces in the Southwest are rapidly being diminished by the large numbers of Southern soldiers who are resigning their posts and returning to the South to support the Confederacy.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-nineteen-1
2. Friday, August 22, 1862: Lincoln defended his stand on slavery. Criticised by the ‘New York Tribune’ for not doing enough about slavery, Lincoln stated that his primary aim was to save the Union. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could do so by freeing all the slaves I would do it.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-one
3. Friday, August 22, 1862: Emancipation: In New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler issues a general order authorizing the enrollment of black troops. Within two weeks, more than 1,000 men will enlist in the 1st Louisiana Native Guard (USA).
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-20-26-1862/
4. Friday, August 22, 1862: General Benjamin Butler (US) authorizes the enlistment of "free Negroes.” Lincoln defended his stand on slavery.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-one
5. Friday, August 22, 1862: Lincoln defended his stand on slavery. Criticised by the ‘New York Tribune’ for not doing enough about slavery, Lincoln stated that his primary aim was to save the Union. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could do so by freeing all the slaves I would do it.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-one
6. Friday, August 22, 1862: Gen. Benjamin Butler, commandant of Union troops in New Orleans, swears into Federal service the First Regiment of Louisiana Native Guards, a regiment of free blacks that had been organized and offered to the Confederacy at first, but turned down. Since Gen. Hunter in South Carolina has been instructed to disband his black regiments, the Louisiana Native Guards now stands as the first de facto black regiment in the Union Army.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
7. Friday, August 22, 1862: Pres. Abraham Lincoln, in one of the most influential and historically significant documents he ever wrote, answers Editor Horace Greeley’s editorial of Aug. 20, just two days ago, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," with this letter, (which Greeley later publishes). In it, notice Lincoln’s tact and tone, as well as his insistence upon restricting his reach of power within its Constitutional limits: “EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, August 22, 1862. Honorable HORACE GREELEY: DEAR SIR: I have just read yours of the 19th addressed to myself through the New York Tribune.* If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
　　　As to the policy I 'seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by feeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when they are shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
　　　 I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.
　　　Yours, A. LINCOLN.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
8. Friday, August 22, 1862: Lincoln answers Horace Greeley’s editorial, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions”: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it.” Both the editorial and Lincoln’s reply may be read here.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-20-26-1862/
9. Friday, August 22, 1862: George Michael Neese, of the Confederate Horse Artillery, writes in his journal of a cannon duel between his battery and a Yankee battery near the Rappahannock River. Then his battery is ordered to limber up and follow with Stuart’s cavalry up around the Federal army to Catlett’s Station for the raid. But the lightning storm breaks upon them along with a torrential rain, and we have Neese’s vivid and picturesque description of the storm: “Soon after nightfall it commenced raining again, and shower after shower of the heaviest sort from the blackest clouds I ever saw kept pouring down till nearly midnight, while blinding flashes of lightning leaped in quick succession from the inky-hued clouds overhead and shot their fiery streams like burning rivers through the thick gloomy darkness that draped the chamber of night. At one moment the lightning
’s dazzling glare rent the curtain of night and flashed its brilliant glow over the landscape, making the woods, fields, and hills appear as though they were basking in the full glory of a midday sun; the next moment the black tide of night rushed over the scene and blotted everything into nothingness. On account of the darkness, rain and deep mud we made slow progress in marching for a raid. The cavalry were all way ahead of us. We did not see or hear a sign of them anywhere, consequently toward midnight we halted in the road where the water and mud was just half knee deep. I was wet all over, and through. Cold, chilly, hungry, and sleepy all at the same time, I put myself in as small a package as I could and sat on the limber chest for three long weary hours, with wakeful dreamy visions of a good, warm, dry bed chasing one another all over me. . . . About midnight, or a little after, General Stuart through rain, storm, and darkness charged into the enemy’s encampment at Catlett’s, surprised the Yanks and drove them from their tents scatteringly into the darkness, captured some prisoners and about one hundred horses, and destroyed eighty wagons.
General Pope has his headquarters at Catlett’s, and I heard that General Stuart captured his uniform coat and his code of signals to-night. If General Pope wants to save his shirt he better keep his headquarters in the saddle or else he will see something of the Rebels some of these fine nights besides their backs.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
10. Friday, August 22, 1862: Tennessee and Kentucky: Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith moves against the Federal base at Cumberland Gap, (where Gen. George Morgan has nearly 10,000 Federal troops there, whereas Kirby-Smith has just over 6,000) but he marches past Cumberland Gap to Barbourville, Kentucky. While there, he is joined by Gen. Henry Heth from Virginia with more troops, bringing Kirby-Smith’s force to about 10,000. Kirby-Smith then decides to strike out on his own and head north, instead of linking up with Bragg, who is beginning to move north, also. Gen. Buell, in the meantime, with the Federal Army of the Ohio, has no idea where the Rebels are or where they are moving.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
11. Friday, August 22, 1862: There is heavy skirmishing today at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, between Union and Confederate cavalry regiments, with the Southern men being defeated and driven off.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
12. Saturday, August 22, 1863: The gunboats USS Reliance and the USS Satellite are captured by the Confederate Navy just off the mouth of the Rappahannock River.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1863Saturday, August 22, 1863: “As if Jefferson Davis did not have enough problems to contend with. He was supposed to be finding reinforcements to shore up Gen. Braxton Bragg’s shaky hold on Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee; coping with the loss of Vicksburg and thereby the entire trans-Mississippi portion of the Confederacy; scrounging up food, horseshoes and other vital supplies for Robert E. Lee’s army in northern Virginia. To top it off he was now having difficulty even finding out what was going on. The postal clerks of the city of Richmond had all quit. The entire workforce walked out in a wage dispute with the government. Letters from Aunt Gertrude and reports from the field were all sitting in bags, undelivered.”
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/19/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-19-25-1863/
13. Saturday, August 22, 1863: East Tennessee operations: General Buckner takes 8,000 men and abandons Knoxville, much to the consternation of Confederate supporters in the region. Garrisons are left at key points.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/19/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-19-25-1863/
14. Saturday, August 22, 1863: Report of failed attack on U.S.S. New Ironsides. On this day 150 years ago, Captain J. Carlin reported on a failed spar torpedo attack against the U.S.S. New Ironsides off Charleston Harbor on the night of August 20-21, 1863. This attack seems to have been carried out by a small steamboat or steam launch armed with a spar torpedo--this is not the later attack made by C.S.S. David, which occurred later in the war.
CHARLESTON, August 22, 1863. To General G. T. BEAUREGARD, “GENERAL: I have the honor to report that I attacked the Ironsides on the night of the 20th, but regret to say, however, it was not accompanied with any beneficial result.I communicated with Fort Sumter at 10 a.m. and obtained a guard of 11 men, under command of Lieutenant [E. S.] Fickling. At 11.30 p. m. I passed the obstructions,a nd at 12 sighted the Ironsides lying at anchor in the channel off Morris Island, with five monitors moored immediately in a shout-southwest direction from her, and about 300 yards distant. One monitor was anchored in the direction bearing upon Battery Gregg, and about half a mile distant. When I came within quarter of a mile of the Ironsides I lowered the torpedoes and proceeded directly for the ship, feeling at the same time fully confident of striking her in the right place. At this time she was lying across the channel and heading for Morris Island. I steered up, keeping the object on our port bow, and, when within 40 yards from the ship, I stopped the engine and ordered the helm put hard a starboard.
I attribute my failure to the want of proper execution of this order. I noticed the slow obedience of the ship to her helm, and again gave the order, repeating it three times. It was a moment of great anxiety and expectation, and not doubting but I would strike her, I was obliged to attend to the proper command of the officers and men, and restrain any undue excitement. In this I was ably assisted by the cool, courageous bearing of Lieutenant Fickling, who commanded the force stationed for defense. I discovered, as we ranged up alongside, that, in consequence of the Ironsides being in the act of swinging to the ebb, we must miss with our torpedoes, but feared that her chain cable would either ignite them or detain us alongside. In either case we must have been captured. A kind Providence, however, intervened and saved our little band from such disaster. When about 50 yards distant we were hailed "Ship ahoy!" After deliberating whether I should not give him some warning, I felt so sure of striking him, I finally answered "Hello," and in an official and stern tone as possible. Another hail, "What ship is that?" I answered, almost immediately, "The steamer Live Yankee."
We were still moving slowly past the bow. I gave the order to go ahead with the engine, and was informed at the same time that the enemy were boarding us. Without looking to see whether such was the case, I gave the order to defend the ship, and got my arms ready in time to prevent the firing upon some sailors that were looking at us from the ports. I saw they were not boarding, and I immediately ordered the men to hold and not fire. They dropped immediately, showing specimen of the effect of good discipline. Just at this time he hailed again, "Where are you from?" Answered, "Port Royal." I found that we had ranged just clear of his bow and out of danger of being boarded except by launches. I then went to the engine-room to see what was the matter, as fully two minutes had elapsed since the order had been given to go ahead. I found that the engine had caught upon the center, and notwithstanding a continued effort for at least four or five minutes, they failed to get started ahead. I was again hailed, "What ship is that?" Answered, "The United States steamer Yankee."
I again went to the engine-room, and by encouragement to the engineers found her in the act of starting. Another hail and another called me to the deck, and as none of my officers heard the question, I surmised it to be an order to come to anchor or to surrender. I answered, "Ay, ay, sir; I'll come on board." I found we were moving ahead slowly, and in two minutes must have passed out of his sight, as he commenced firing in the opposite direction. He afterward fired, sweeping the horizon, 2 shots passing on either side about 20 feet off.
It was my intention to attack one of the monitors, but after the experience with the engine I concluded it would be almost madness to attempt it. I theretofore steered back to the city.
General, in consequence of the tests to which I have put the ship in the two late adventures, I feel it my duty most unhesitatingly to express my condemnation of the vessel and engine for the purposes it was intended, and as soon as she can be docked and the leak stopped, would advise making a transport of her.
I beg to remain, respectfully, your obedient servant, J. CARLIN. Commanding at Charleston, S. C.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1863
15. Saturday, August 22, 1863: Oliver Norton Willcox, a Union soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, writes home, commenting on the viciously hot weather in Virginia, the food, darftees and substitutes, and the new commander of the brigade: “Beverly Ford, Va., August 22, 1863. Dear Parents:— I received a piece of paper from E. a few days since, saying that he had received my letter and would answer it soon. The answer has not come yet. The envelope contained the perfumery I sent for, and, if it is not effectual, I don’t know of anything that would be. Fortunately, I am not troubled with the “crumbs” now. All the men who ever are rid of them are so now. A good boiling does the business, but there are some who would be lousy if they had every convenience and a year’s time, and just as soon as we start on a march again they will be all over. “All is quiet on the Rappahannock” yet. The hot weather paralyzes both armies, but lying still they are gaining. The flies are so troublesome that horses do not gain so fast as they would in cooler weather, but they still improve some. Many of the cavalry regiments and batteries are getting new horses.
The commissary is issuing soft bread two days out of three, nice fresh bread, too, and, oh, if we had some butter! He issues small rations of potatoes and dried apples occasionally, and dessicated vegetables. I presume you have never seen any of this last. It is in square cakes an inch thick and seems to consist of potato, carrot, turnip, onion, cabbage, red pepper, etc., scalded and then pressed and dried. I am confident that if we could learn how to cook it we should like it. We are all hungry for vegetables, but I cannot cook it nor have I seen any one who could so that it will be good. We have put in fresh beef and made soup of it, and we have boiled it down dry and tried it every way we can think of, and don’t succeed yet. The fault seems to be that each vegetable loses its individual flavor in the cooking and all blend together in a nondescript sort of a dish that isn’t good a bit.
The principal topics of news in camp are the arrival of the conscripts and the departure of Colonel Rice. Captain Judson came down from Philadelphia this week with two hundred men for the Eighty-third, and he has gone back for more. Of the two hundred but three men, so they say, were drafted. All the rest are substitutes, and most of them two years and nine months men. They seem to be pretty hard nuts. They are very quiet here, but Captain Judson says they had quite a tendency to get lost on their way down.
Colonel Rice’s “eagles” have been setting a good while, and the other morning on waking he found they had hatched a pair of “stars” and “marching orders” to report in Baltimore, and with many thanks to the eagles he proceeded to obey immediately. The senior officer of the brigade now is Colonel Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine, a former professor in a college and a very fine man, though but little posted in military matters. He is absent now on sick leave, though about to return, I hear.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1863
16. Monday, August 22, 1864: The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut. On this day 150 years ago, in Columbia, South Carolina, Mary Boykin Chesnut surveyed the war news. “August 22d. - Hope I may never know a raid except from hearsay. Mrs. Huger describes the one at Athens. The proudest and most timid of women were running madly in the streets, corsets in one hand, stockings in the other- déshabillé as far as it will go, Mobile is half taken. The railroad between us and Richmond has been tapped.
Notes from a letter written by a young lady who is riding a high horse. Her fiancé, a maimed hero, has been abused. "You say to me with a sneer, 'So you love that man.' Yes, I do, and I thank God that I love better than all the world the man who is to be my husband. 'Proud of him, are you?' Yes, I am, in exact proportion to my love. You say, ' I am selfish.' Yes, I am selfish. He is my second self, so utterly absorbed am I in him. There is not a moment, day or night, that I do not think of him. In point of fact, I do not think of anything else." No reply was deemed necessary by the astounded recipient of this outburst of indignation, who showed me the letter and continued to observe: "Did you ever? She seems so shy, so timid, so cold."
Sunday Isabella took us to a chapel, Methodist, of course; her father had a hand in building it. It was not clean, but it was crowded, hot, and stuffy. An eloquent man preached with a delightful voice and wonderful fluency; nearly eloquent, and at times nearly ridiculous. He described a scene during one of his sermons when "beautiful young faces were turned up to me, radiant faces though bathed in tears, moral rainbows of emotion playing over them," etc.
He then described his own conversion, and stripped himself naked morally. All that is very revolting to one's innate sense of decency. He tackled the patriarchs. Adam, Noah, and so on down to Joseph, who was "a man whose modesty and purity were so transcendent they enabled him to resist the greatest temptation to which fallen man is exposed." "Fiddlesticks! that is played out!" my neighbor whispered. "Everybody gives up now that old Mrs. Pharaoh was forty." "Mrs. Potiphar, you goose, and she was fifty!" "That solves the riddle." "Sh-sh!!" from the devout Isabella.
At home met General Preston on the piazza. He was vastly entertaining. Gave us Darwin, Herodotus, and Livy. We understood him and were delighted, but we did not know enough to be sure when it was his own wisdom or when wise saws and cheering words came from the authors of whom he spoke.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1864
17. Monday, August 22, 1864: The ten articles of this first treaty of the Geneva Convention are initially adopted by twelve nations, today. This treaty helps form the International Red Cross in Geneva. Clara Barton was instrumental in campaigning for the ratification of the 1864 Geneva Convention by the United States, which eventually ratified it in 1882.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-176
18. Monday, August 22, 1864: Mississippi operations: Forrest reaches Panola and tells Chalmers via courier, “If the enemy is falling back, pursue them hard. Send Buford to capture their foraging-parties. Keep close to their camp. Order Captain Henderson to scout well to their right to ascertain if there is any movement this way.” He tells Chalmers he hopes to rest his men for a couple of days at Grenada. Meanwhile, A. J. Smith’s Federal troops enter Oxford and burn businesses and unoccupied homes. The town is pillaged until 5 p.m., when the US forces are suddenly withdrawn and start back toward Holly Springs.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-18-24-1864/
19. Monday, August 22, 1864: Siege of Atlanta: Per General Sherman: Kilpatrick got off during the night of the 18th, and returned to us on the 22d, having made the complete circuit of Atlanta. He reported that he had destroyed three miles of the railroad about Jonesboro, which he reckoned would take ten days to repair; that he had encountered a division of infantry and a brigade of cavalry (Ross’s); that he had captured a battery and destroyed three of its guns, bringing one in as a trophy, and he also brought in three battle-flags and seventy prisoners.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-18-24-1864/

A Thursday, August, 22, 1861: Paducah, Kentucky - On August 22, the USS Lexington engaged and quickly captured the Confederate steamer, CSS W.B. Terry, and the mail steamboat, Samuel Orr, at Paducah.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1861s.html
A+ Thursday, August, 22, 1861: U.S.S. Lexington seizes rebel steamer. On August 12, 1861, the converted riverboat Lexington was taken into U.S. service as the "timberclad" gunboat USS Lexington. As part of her conversion, the Lexington was planked over with thick wooden sides and armed with four 8-inch Dahlgren guns and two 32-pounder cannon. Only ten days later, on August 22, 1861, the Lexington was in action against a rebel steamer reported to be at Paducah, Kentucky.
To Colonel OGLESBY, Commander Military Post, Cairo, Ill. From U.S. GUNBOAT LEXINGTON, Cairo, August 22, 1861. “COLONEL: Agreeably to your verbal order, communicated to me at midnight of the 21st instant, I got under way, and proceeded to Paducah, Ky., where I arrived at 7.03 a.m. The gentleman you placed on board to designate the steamer employed in the rebel trade and carrying their flag pointed out the W. B. Terry as being the vessel thus illegally engaged. I ran alongside of her, cut her out, made her fast to the Lexington, and immediately returned to this anchorage and placed her in your possession. I was not opposed in the performance of this duty by either the citizens of Paducah or the officers and crew of the Terry, for the latter, evidently suspecting my object, left the boat hastily, with such articles of clothing as were at hand. I was therefore unsuccessful in capturing any of them.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant R.N. STEMBEL, Commander, U. S. Navy.”
The Lexington--along with her sister timberclads Conestoga and Tyler--would become mainstays of the Federal river fleet on the western rivers.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1861
B Friday, August 22, 1862: At Rappahannock in VA, a Confederate cavalry raid led by Jeb Stuart, got into Pope’s headquarters and captured some command officers and Pope’s dispatch book. This book had vital information in it. For Lee, this was critical information. This raid continued to build on Stuart’s growing reputation as an outstanding if unconventional cavalry officer.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-one
B+ Friday, August 22, 1862: Northern Virginia: Gen. Pope’s army is now all behind the Rappahannock River. He is worried about his left flank: if the Rebels were to turn that flank, they could cut him off from Washington and McClellan’s reinforcements. However, Gen. Lee determines to let Pope stew about his left flank, and to march by the Union right flank, instead. Jackson and Longstreet begin sidestepping to the West, in an effort to shield their movement behind the Bull Run Mountains, a string of low, ragged hills parallel with the higher Blue Ridge farther west. Gen. Stuart, with Lee’s cavalry, precedes the infantry, looking for a good ford across the Rappahannock. Raid on Catlett’s Station: Gen. Stuart, finding no one to oppose him in the Federal right rear, rides to Catlett’s Station on the railroad, and bags the 100 Pennsylvania troops there who are guarding Pope’s supplies and the railroad. Stuart’s cavalry capture much of the supplies and destroy as much as they can, but heavy rains prevent them from burning the railroad bridge there. Stuart raids Pope’s headquarters, taking his papers, maps, and dress uniform with overcoat. (Some days previous, Stuart lost his signature plumed hat to a surprise Yankee raid, and he writes to Pope, suggesting an "exchange of prisoners." Pope does not respond.)
Friday, August 22, 1862: First Battle of Rappahannock Station - This is often the given name for a rolling series of heavy skirmishes along the Rappahannock River that take shape starting today, and lasting for three days: actions including Waterloo Bridge, Lee Springs, Freeman's Ford, and Sulphur Springs, result in fairly heavy casualties on both sides. The Confederates are probing for a point to cross the Rappahannock River; the Federals are probing to see what Lee is up to. At one point, Gen. Sigel orders Gen. Carl Schurz across the river with a brigade, where he carries on a see-saw firefight with Rebel troops, who will not yield to allow any Yankee reconnaisance of their operations.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+22%2C+1862
B++ Friday, August 22, 1862: Manassas/Second Manassas Campaign: General Jackson moves upriver and crosses part of his force over the Rappahannock at Freeman’s Ford, the rest at Sulphur Springs. Union troops try to oppose the Freeman’s Ford crossing unsuccessfully. The Sulphur Springs crossing is unopposed, since that would force Pope to advance to Sulphur Springs, abandoning his railroad and risking his connection with McClellan’s forces who are marching towards him from Aquia Creek. Meanwhile, US General Heintzelman’s troops are delayed, but of more importance, General Jeb Stuart raids Catlett Station, behind Union lines, overnight and gets General Pope’s coat (a nice trade for Stuart’s captured hat earlier this month!) and Pope’s dispatch book. Thus Lee learns that McClellan will arrive soon. Stuart’s raid also disrupts telegraph communication between Pope and Washington (and almost everybody else).
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-20-26-1862/
C Saturday, August 22, 1863: As the South had not agreed to the North’s demands, the first shot by the “Swamp Angel” was fired at Charleston at 01:30 AM. The gunners could not actually see their target but artillery officers had spent the previous day working out the necessary predicted range (5 ½ miles) and angle of fire. In total twelve shots were fired in quick succession, including four incendiary rounds.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-123
C+ Saturday, August 22, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor: Federals fire the “Swamp Angel” from Morris Island on downtown Charleston.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/19/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-19-25-1863/
D Monday, August 22, 1864: Grant (US) knew if he could control all the railways into the area around Petersburg and Richmond, it would only be a matter of time. General Lee (CSA) is still wanting prisoner exchanges. Just in the last few days of fighting, Grant’s Federal forces had lost about 4500 casualties, but large numbers of those were prisoners, not fatalities. Grant could afford to lose the men, and afford to feed the prisoners he took. He knew that Lee’s situation was precisely the opposite. It would, however, be very hard on the Union captives.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-176
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LTC Stephen F. Great read and share, out of up-votes, I chose: 1864: Lt Gen U.S. Grant knew if he could control all the railways into the area around Petersburg and Richmond, it would only be a matter of time before the Confederacy would be so starved of all supplies. General Robert E. Lee was still wanting prisoner
due to logistical importance.

Again thanks for my daily Civil War fix LTC Stephen F.