Posted on Jul 3, 2016
What was the most significant event on July 01 during the U.S. Civil War?
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Ask a Historian: Gettysburg, July 1, 1863
Another installment of "Ask a Historian!" Tim Smith and Andrew Dalton will answer your questions about the First Day's Battlefield at Gettysburg - the farms,...
1862 at the conclusion of the Seven days’ battles in Virginia. “Characteristically, after such a stupendous success, McClellan inexplicably orders the army to withdraw to Harrison’s Landing.”
1862: Surgeon Alfred L. Castleman, of the Union army, gives his description of the Battle of Malvern Hill, which he witnessed: “After a march of about two miles, we halted on the slope of a hill which concealed us from an immense open plain stretching out in our front to Malvern Hills. Here was progressing a battle which will be famed in history, so long as battles are fought on earth. I doubt whether one so bloody, in proportion to numbers, or so obstinately contested, has been fought since the invention of gunpowder. . . . Our Division was drawn up in line on the slope of the hill referred to, just so as to be concealed by its brow from the plain in front, yet so near as to perceive the advance of an enemy approaching over it, and here we lay all day in reserve, expecting our main body to be driven back on us, . . .”
Gen. Buford sends this worried dispatch to Pleasonton: HEADQUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION, July 1, 1863-3. 20 p. m. “I am satisfied that Longstreet and Hill have made a junction. A tremendous battle has been raging since 9. 30 a. m., with varying success. At the present moment the battle is raging on the road to Cashtown, and within short cannon-range of this town. The enemy's line is a semicircle on the height, from north to west. General Reynolds was killed early this morning. In my option, there seems to be no directing person. JNO. BUFORD, Brigadier-General of Volunteers.
General Pleasonton. P. S. -We need help now.”
British Army observer liaisoned with the confederates offers his observations at Gettysburg in 1863: Lt. Col. Fremantle, the British observer, writes in his journal of the beginning of the battle, and the early Confederate successes: “We now began to meet Yankee prisoners coming to the rear in considerable numbers: many of them were wounded, but they seemed already to be on excellent terms with their captors, with whom they had commenced swapping canteens, tobacco, &c. Among them was a Pennsylvanian colonel, a miserable object from a wound in his face. In answer to a question, I heard one of them remark, with a laugh, “We’re pretty nigh whipped already.” We next came to a Confederate soldier carrying a Yankee colour, belonging, I think, to a Pennsylvanian regiment, which he told us he had just captured.
At 4.30 P.m. we came in sight of Gettysburg and joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on the top of one of the ridges which form the peculiar feature of the country round Gettysburg. We could see the enemy retreating up one of the opposite ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. The position into which the enemy had been driven was evidently a strong one. His right appeared to rest on a cemetery, on the top of a high ridge to the right of Gettysburg, as we looked at it.
General Hill now came up and told me he had been very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very delicate. He said he had had two of his divisions engaged, and had driven the enemy four miles into his present position, capturing a great many prisoners, some cannon, and some colours; he said, however, that the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them. He pointed out a railway cutting, in which they had made a good stand; also, a field in the centre of which he had seen a man plant the regimental colour, round which the regiment had fought for some time with much obstinacy, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the colour-bearer retired last of all, turning round every now and then to shake his fist at the advancing rebels. General Hill said he felt quite sorry when he saw this gallant Yankee meet his doom.
General Ewell had come up at 3.30, on the enemy’s right (with part of his corps), and completed his discomfiture. General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in the front, whilst he performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular attack. The town of Gettysburg was now occupied by Ewell, and was full of Yankee dead and wounded. . . .
In the fight to-day nearly 6000 prisoners had been taken, and 10 guns. About 20,000 men must have been on the field on the Confederate side. The enemy had two corps d’armée engaged. All the prisoners belong, I think, to the 1st and 11th corps. This day’s work is called a “brisk little scurry,” and all anticipate a “big battle” to-morrow. . . .
At supper this evening, General Longstreet spoke of the enemy’s position as being “very formidable.” He also said that they would doubtless intrench themselves strongly during the night. The Staff officers spoke of the battle as a certainty, and the universal feeling in the army was one of profound contempt for an enemy whom they have beaten so constantly, and under so many disadvantages.
Pictures: 1863-07-01 Gettysburg; 1862-07-01 sailors on the USS Potomska; 1863-07-01 Gettysburg Battle Map Day1; 1862-07-01 Battle of Malvern Hill Map
A. 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska which was a three-masted schooner, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough sailed to within the range of the Fort McAllister’s cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The battery on the fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
B. 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia was almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. The Confederate bombardment failed, but Robert E. Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
C. 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1 ends with Confederate advantage. In the morning advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position.
D. 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
Ask a Historian: Gettysburg, July 1, 1863
Another installment of "Ask a Historian!" Tim Smith and Andrew Dalton will answer your questions about the First Day's Battlefield at Gettysburg - the farms, families, soldiers, monuments - you name it, we'll give you our best answer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPE-KiCMZ_c
FYI PV2 Larry Sellnow SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. LTC John Griscom MAJ (Join to see) SMSgt David A Asbury SSG Bill McCoy SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D LTC Greg Henning MSgt Gloria Vance LCpl (Join to see) SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.DSSG Jeffrey Leake PO1 Howard Barnes PO3 Edward Riddle SPC James Neidig1LT (Join to see) SPC Jon O.
1862: Surgeon Alfred L. Castleman, of the Union army, gives his description of the Battle of Malvern Hill, which he witnessed: “After a march of about two miles, we halted on the slope of a hill which concealed us from an immense open plain stretching out in our front to Malvern Hills. Here was progressing a battle which will be famed in history, so long as battles are fought on earth. I doubt whether one so bloody, in proportion to numbers, or so obstinately contested, has been fought since the invention of gunpowder. . . . Our Division was drawn up in line on the slope of the hill referred to, just so as to be concealed by its brow from the plain in front, yet so near as to perceive the advance of an enemy approaching over it, and here we lay all day in reserve, expecting our main body to be driven back on us, . . .”
Gen. Buford sends this worried dispatch to Pleasonton: HEADQUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION, July 1, 1863-3. 20 p. m. “I am satisfied that Longstreet and Hill have made a junction. A tremendous battle has been raging since 9. 30 a. m., with varying success. At the present moment the battle is raging on the road to Cashtown, and within short cannon-range of this town. The enemy's line is a semicircle on the height, from north to west. General Reynolds was killed early this morning. In my option, there seems to be no directing person. JNO. BUFORD, Brigadier-General of Volunteers.
General Pleasonton. P. S. -We need help now.”
British Army observer liaisoned with the confederates offers his observations at Gettysburg in 1863: Lt. Col. Fremantle, the British observer, writes in his journal of the beginning of the battle, and the early Confederate successes: “We now began to meet Yankee prisoners coming to the rear in considerable numbers: many of them were wounded, but they seemed already to be on excellent terms with their captors, with whom they had commenced swapping canteens, tobacco, &c. Among them was a Pennsylvanian colonel, a miserable object from a wound in his face. In answer to a question, I heard one of them remark, with a laugh, “We’re pretty nigh whipped already.” We next came to a Confederate soldier carrying a Yankee colour, belonging, I think, to a Pennsylvanian regiment, which he told us he had just captured.
At 4.30 P.m. we came in sight of Gettysburg and joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on the top of one of the ridges which form the peculiar feature of the country round Gettysburg. We could see the enemy retreating up one of the opposite ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. The position into which the enemy had been driven was evidently a strong one. His right appeared to rest on a cemetery, on the top of a high ridge to the right of Gettysburg, as we looked at it.
General Hill now came up and told me he had been very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very delicate. He said he had had two of his divisions engaged, and had driven the enemy four miles into his present position, capturing a great many prisoners, some cannon, and some colours; he said, however, that the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them. He pointed out a railway cutting, in which they had made a good stand; also, a field in the centre of which he had seen a man plant the regimental colour, round which the regiment had fought for some time with much obstinacy, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the colour-bearer retired last of all, turning round every now and then to shake his fist at the advancing rebels. General Hill said he felt quite sorry when he saw this gallant Yankee meet his doom.
General Ewell had come up at 3.30, on the enemy’s right (with part of his corps), and completed his discomfiture. General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in the front, whilst he performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular attack. The town of Gettysburg was now occupied by Ewell, and was full of Yankee dead and wounded. . . .
In the fight to-day nearly 6000 prisoners had been taken, and 10 guns. About 20,000 men must have been on the field on the Confederate side. The enemy had two corps d’armée engaged. All the prisoners belong, I think, to the 1st and 11th corps. This day’s work is called a “brisk little scurry,” and all anticipate a “big battle” to-morrow. . . .
At supper this evening, General Longstreet spoke of the enemy’s position as being “very formidable.” He also said that they would doubtless intrench themselves strongly during the night. The Staff officers spoke of the battle as a certainty, and the universal feeling in the army was one of profound contempt for an enemy whom they have beaten so constantly, and under so many disadvantages.
Pictures: 1863-07-01 Gettysburg; 1862-07-01 sailors on the USS Potomska; 1863-07-01 Gettysburg Battle Map Day1; 1862-07-01 Battle of Malvern Hill Map
A. 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska which was a three-masted schooner, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough sailed to within the range of the Fort McAllister’s cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The battery on the fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
B. 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia was almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. The Confederate bombardment failed, but Robert E. Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
C. 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1 ends with Confederate advantage. In the morning advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position.
D. 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
Ask a Historian: Gettysburg, July 1, 1863
Another installment of "Ask a Historian!" Tim Smith and Andrew Dalton will answer your questions about the First Day's Battlefield at Gettysburg - the farms, families, soldiers, monuments - you name it, we'll give you our best answer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPE-KiCMZ_c
FYI PV2 Larry Sellnow SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. LTC John Griscom MAJ (Join to see) SMSgt David A Asbury SSG Bill McCoy SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D LTC Greg Henning MSgt Gloria Vance LCpl (Join to see) SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.DSSG Jeffrey Leake PO1 Howard Barnes PO3 Edward Riddle SPC James Neidig1LT (Join to see) SPC Jon O.
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I expect that most USA citizens and the US government would be thrilled if our public debt was as low today as it was on Tuesday, July 01, 1862: United States public debt exceeds $500 million for the first time.
Allegations of war crimes against the confederates for shooting contrabands [supposed runaway slaves in 1864: “During Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.”
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Col. William Averell of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry offers this singular image and impression of the battle: “Over 5000 dead and wounded men were to be seen on the ground. They were in every attitude of distress. Curled up or sprawling singly and in heaps and rows. A third of them dead and dying, but enough living and moving to give the field a crawling appearance.”
Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Capt. Edward M Hardy, Co. G of the 6th Virginia Infantry, writes a letter to Rev. Aristides Spyker Smith with the news that his son Johnnie was killed in the assault on Malvern Hill: “Rev.d A. S. Smith, Petersburg Va. Dr. Sir, It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son John. R. Smith, a member of my company. He died like a patriot & a gentleman, while charging a Yankee Battery. It is needless to say to you that the loss of our beloved comrade is deeply regretted by the whole company. I sent you the last remains by Mr. Lewellen Southgate.
I am with much sympathy and respect, Yr. obt. svt. EM Hardy, Captain Co. “G” 6th Regt. V.V.
Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a Union officer serving on Gen. John Reynolds’s staff, writes in his memoir of the events of that day, as Reynolds dashed into Gettysburg: “When we reached the outskirts of Gettysburg, a man told us that the rebels were driving in our cavalry pickets, and immediately General Reynolds went into the town on a fast gallop, through it, and a mile out on the other side, where he found General Buford and the cavalry engaging the enemy, who were advancing in strong force. He immediately sent me to General Meade, 13 or 14 miles off, to say that the enemy were coming on in strong force, and that he was afraid they would get the heights on the other side of the town before he could; that he would fight them all through the town, however, and keep them back as long as possible.
I delivered the message to General Meade at 11.20, having been an hour and twenty minutes on my way. He seemed quite anxious about the matter, and said, “Good God! if the enemy get Gettysburg, I am lost.”
I started on my way back, and when half-way met an orderly, who told me that General Reynolds was shot. I did not believe him, but of course felt very anxious, and rode on as fast as possible to ascertain the truth of the matter. When near the town I met Captain Mitchell with an ambulance, and General Reynolds’s body. I felt very badly indeed about his death, as he had always treated me very kindly, and because he was the best general we had in our army. Brave, kind-hearted, modest, somewhat rough and wanting polish, he was a type of the true soldier. I cannot realize that he is dead.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Capt. Charles Wright Wills, an Illinois cavalry officer in La Grange, Tennessee, hears the news of the invasion of Pennsylvania, and allows himself a bit of crowing at the lack of manhood in the effete Easterners, when compared with the doughtiness that Illinois men clearly possess: “Isn’t it music to hear those Pennsylvania fellers howl? I almost wish that Lee would cut the levee of Lake Ontario, and let the water over that country. Don’t tell father and mother. If Lee don’t wake them up to a sense of their misery, he isn’t the man that Price is. If ever Price reaches Illinois, and he swears he’s going to do it some day, you can reckon on seeing a smoke, sure! Don’t you folks feel a little blue over Lee’s move? Kind o’ as though you wish you hadn’t gone and done it! Never mind, you’ll get used to it. The first raid isn’t a sample. Wait until general Rebel somebody, establishes his headquarters in Canton, and you’ve all taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Imagine yourself going up to the headquarters with your oath in your hand and tears in your eyes to ask the general to please keep the soldiers from tearing the boards off your house (for bunks), or asking for something to eat out of his commissary department, and then blubber right out and tell him that the soldiers broke open your trunks and took your clothes and what little money you had, and you don’t know what in the world you’ll do. Many of these people are in this condition, and I hear a hundred of them tell the story every week. Every man in Illinois ought to die on the border rather than allow an invading force to march into our State.
Pictures: 1863-07-01 iron brigade forward - z maritato; 1864-07-01 Wilson-Kautz Raid Map; 1863-07-01 Malvern Hill Battle map; 1862-07-01 Battle of Malvern Hill
A. Tuesday, July 01, Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska which was a three-masted schooner, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough sailed to within the range of the Fort McAllister’s cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The battery on the fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
B. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia was almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. The Confederate bombardment failed, but Robert E. Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
Background: The Seven Days battles ended with a tremendous roar at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. The contending armies collided for the final time that week on ground that gave an immense advantage to the defenders—in this case McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. With the security of the James River and the powerful United States Navy at his back, McClellan elected to stop and invite battle. The Confederates, elated by their victories but frustrated by their inability to achieve truly decisive battlefield results, obliged McClellan by attacking Malvern Hill.
The hill itself was a modest elevation about 2 ½ miles north of the James River. Its strength lay not in its height, but rather in its fields of fire. Gently sloping open fields lay in front of the Union position, forcing any Confederate attacks against the hill to travel across that barren ground. McClellan unlimbered as much artillery as he could at the crest of the hill, facing in three directions. Nearly 70,000 infantry lay in support, most of them crowded in reserve on the back side of the hill.
General Lee recognized the power of Malvern Hill. In tandem with James Longstreet, one of his top subordinates, Lee devised a plan where Confederate artillery would attempt to seize control of Malvern Hill by suppressing the Union cannon there. Lee believed his infantry could assault and carry the position if they did not have to contend with the fearsome Union batteries.
C. Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1 ends with Confederate advantage. In the morning advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position.
Background: The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Two months prior to Gettysburg, Lee had dealt a stunning defeat to the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He then made plans for a Northern invasion in order to relieve pressure on war-weary Virginia and to seize the initiative from the Yankees. His army, numbering about 80,000, began moving on June 3. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Joseph Hooker and numbering just under 100,000, began moving shortly thereafter, staying between Lee and Washington, D.C. But on June 28, frustrated by the Lincoln administration’s restrictions on his autonomy as commander, Hooker resigned and was replaced by George G. Meade.
Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee’s army moved into Pennsylvania.
Details: Discovering that Gen. Heth has found Yankee troops in Gettysburg, Gen. A.P. Hill orders Heth to return to Gettysburg and push the Yankees out, supposing them to be merely militia. Heth marches down the Cashtown Road, with Pender’s Division right behind him. At about 5:30 AM, as his vedettes run into skirmishers from Buford’s cavalry, he moves a brigade (Archer’s) into line of battle, taps the Yankee line, and discovers a real force there on Herr Ridge and McPherson Ridge. Heth shakes out another brigade into line (Joseph Davis, nephew to the President of the CSA), and presses the attack. Caleff’s battery astride the Cashtown Road, with the cavalry brigades of Devin and Gamble, put up a stiff fight.
Buford sends back word to Gen. Reynolds to hurry reinforcements. By 10:00 AM, the Confederates have been repulsed with heavy losses, especially in Archer’s brigade of Tennesseans. Gen. John Reynolds arrives at this point, and he and Buford discuss the ground and what to do. Reynolds agrees with Buford that this ground must be held, and he sends word for his infantry---both the I and the XI Corps---to move up quickly to Gettysburg. As the Confederates again come forward, at about 10:30 AM, they meet the newly-deployed infantry from Wadsworth’s division, Meredith’s brigade: the “black hats” of the Iron Brigade, who throw the attack back with heavy losses. More I Corps units line up to the right of Meredith. Gen. Howard and the lead elements of the XI Corps soon arrive, and Howard begins to deploy them on the open ground north of the town. Back on McPherson Ridge, as Reynolds is directing the movement of the Iron Brigade in repelling Archer’s brigade at McPherson Woods, he is killed by a Rebel sniper. Command devolves upon Howard, but Howard does not know this for some time. Gen. Doubleday assumes command of the I Corps, and the fighting escalates. Heth’s division is played out, and withdraws for a time.
Meanwhile, units from Ewell’s II Corps appear on the roads leading into Gettysburg from the north and northeast. These are troops from Rodes’ and Early’s divisions. Rodes deploys perpendicular to Oak Ridge, intending to take the I Corps in flank. Early’s brigades smash into Howard’s XI Corps positions, which turn out to be badly placed and exposed, subject to flanking. As Howard shores up his right flank, each time a new Confederate unit flanks it. Barlow’s division, anchored on what becomes known as Barlow’s Knob, holds for a while against great odds---but Barlow is badly wounded and left for dead, and his division breaks and heads for the rear.
Rodes attacks is held up by pockets of Federal resistance, but the XI Corps is peeling away and fleeing in disorder through the streets of Gettysburg. Heth’s division rejoins the Rebel attack on the I Corps with fresh troops from Pender’s division. Doubleday sees that is flank is exposed, and the simple geometry of battlefield position tells him that his position in untenable. By 4:00 PM, the Federal lines are broken completely. The I Corps withdraws in better order than the XI Corps, but the Rebels scoop up large numbers of prisoners disoriented in the streets of Gettysburg.
The triumphant Confederates push the assault, taking over 3,000 prisoners. Gen. Schimmelpfennig of the XI Corps takes refuge in a pig sty, where he stays until the battle if over. The remnants of the Federal divisions flee to Cemetey Hill, which dominates the town below. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the II Corps, has been sent by Meade to take over command from Howard, and he begins directing the fortification of Cemetery Hill and Ridge.
Gen. Lee, having been drawn into battle before he was ready, senses victory within reach, and orders Gen Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill before the Yankees can re-form and entrench. There is a lull in the battle, and Ewell, who feels that Rodes and Early are too badly played out to make another assault, defers the decision. His third division, under Johnson, is not yet ready to deploy completely. The attack does not happen, even though Gen. A.P. Hill arrives with fresh troops on the field. The sun goes down as Federal reinforcements stream up the Emmitsburg, Taneytown, and Baltimore Roads to reinforce.
D. Friday, July 01, 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
Background: Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz saw an opening on the Confederate right and was able to make his getaway on a more direct route to friendly territory. He tried to save his guns but they became mired in a swamp and were spiked and abandoned, but he brought his division, plus some of Wilson's men, in to Federal lines soon after dark on the 30th.
Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson did not have it so easy as Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz.
Aftermath: At the same time, serious allegations of plundering were made against Wilson and his men in the Confederate press. The charges were specific enough that Meade called Wilson to account for them, which brought an indignant reply from Wilson and a heated display of Meade's legendary temper in response.
1. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
2. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 40
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
3. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 35
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4. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Surgeon Alfred L. Castleman, of the Union army, gives his description of the Battle of Malvern Hill, which he witnessed: “After a march of about two miles, we halted on the slope of a hill which concealed us from an immense open plain stretching out in our front to Malvern Hills. Here was progressing a battle which will be famed in history, so long as battles are fought on earth. I doubt whether one so bloody, in proportion to numbers, or so obstinately contested, has been fought since the invention of gunpowder. . . . Our Division was drawn up in line on the slope of the hill referred to, just so as to be concealed by its brow from the plain in front, yet so near as to perceive the advance of an enemy approaching over it, and here we lay all day in reserve, expecting our main body to be driven back on us, . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
5. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- The battle of Malvern Hill still rages, and what carnage. Hand to hand the fight goes on. The dead and the dying lie heaped together. Charge after charge is made on our artillery, with a demoniac will to take it, if it costs them half their army. Down it mows their charging ranks, till they lie in heaps and rows, from behind which our men fight as securely as if in rifle pits. . . . The slaughter is terrible, and to add to the carnage, our gun boats are throwing their murderous missiles with furious effect into the ranks of our enemy. By their shots huge trees are uprooted or torn into shreds, which whip the combatants to death.
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6. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Col. William Averell of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry offers this singular image and impression of the battle: “Over 5000 dead and wounded men were to be seen on the ground. They were in every attitude of distress. Curled up or sprawling singly and in heaps and rows. A third of them dead and dying, but enough living and moving to give the field a crawling appearance.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
7. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Capt. Edward M Hardy, Co. G of the 6th Virginia Infantry, writes a letter to Rev. Aristides Spyker Smith with the news that his son Johnnie was killed in the assault on Malvern Hill: “Rev.d A. S. Smith, Petersburg Va. Dr. Sir, It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son John. R. Smith, a member of my company. He died like a patriot & a gentleman, while charging a Yankee Battery. It is needless to say to you that the loss of our beloved comrade is deeply regretted by the whole company. I sent you the last remains by Mr. Lewellen Southgate.
I am with much sympathy and respect, Yr. obt. svt. EM Hardy, Captain Co. “G” 6th Regt. V.V.
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8. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Assessment of the Seven Days' Battles: Lee risked the survival of the Confederacy by conducting such audacious attacks against an army much larger than his---indeed, Lee's critics have argued that the 20,000 men he recklesly lost in those 7 days were irreplacable, and crippled the Confederacy's ability to never came close to matching the Federal numbers in the field. Others argue that Lee's attacks, although tactically costly, gave Richmond the breathing space it needed, and pushed McClellan back and away from Richmond, where maintaining the status quo could only have guaranteed a Federal victory. Lee's victories electrified the South, and gave morale a permanent boost. It could be valid to argue that Lee incurred losses that he could not afford for a victory that he could not do without.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
9. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, incorporating the Union Pacific Railroad and subsidizing it with federal funds
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
10. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: [circa] General David Hunter organizes the 1st South Carolina Regiment. It will later become the 33rd U. S. Colored Infantry.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
11. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: United States public debt exceeds $500 million for the first time.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
12. Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a Union officer serving on Gen. John Reynolds’s staff, writes in his memoir of the events of that day, as Reynolds dashed into Gettysburg: “When we reached the outskirts of Gettysburg, a man told us that the rebels were driving in our cavalry pickets, and immediately General Reynolds went into the town on a fast gallop, through it, and a mile out on the other side, where he found General Buford and the cavalry engaging the enemy, who were advancing in strong force. He immediately sent me to General Meade, 13 or 14 miles off, to say that the enemy were coming on in strong force, and that he was afraid they would get the heights on the other side of the town before he could; that he would fight them all through the town, however, and keep them back as long as possible.
I delivered the message to General Meade at 11.20, having been an hour and twenty minutes on my way. He seemed quite anxious about the matter, and said, “Good God! if the enemy get Gettysburg, I am lost.”
I started on my way back, and when half-way met an orderly, who told me that General Reynolds was shot. I did not believe him, but of course felt very anxious, and rode on as fast as possible to ascertain the truth of the matter. When near the town I met Captain Mitchell with an ambulance, and General Reynolds’s body. I felt very badly indeed about his death, as he had always treated me very kindly, and because he was the best general we had in our army. Brave, kind-hearted, modest, somewhat rough and wanting polish, he was a type of the true soldier. I cannot realize that he is dead.”
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13. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Lt. Col. Fremantle, the British observer, writes in his journal of the beginning of the battle, and the early Confederate successes: “We now began to meet Yankee prisoners coming to the rear in considerable numbers: many of them were wounded, but they seemed already to be on excellent terms with their captors, with whom they had commenced swapping canteens, tobacco, &c. Among them was a Pennsylvanian colonel, a miserable object from a wound in his face. In answer to a question, I heard one of them remark, with a laugh, “We’re pretty nigh whipped already.” We next came to a Confederate soldier carrying a Yankee colour, belonging, I think, to a Pennsylvanian regiment, which he told us he had just captured.
At 4.30 P.m. we came in sight of Gettysburg and joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on the top of one of the ridges which form the peculiar feature of the country round Gettysburg. We could see the enemy retreating up one of the opposite ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. The position into which the enemy had been driven was evidently a strong one. His right appeared to rest on a cemetery, on the top of a high ridge to the right of Gettysburg, as we looked at it.
General Hill now came up and told me he had been very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very delicate. He said he had had two of his divisions engaged, and had driven the enemy four miles into his present position, capturing a great many prisoners, some cannon, and some colours; he said, however, that the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them. He pointed out a railway cutting, in which they had made a good stand; also, a field in the centre of which he had seen a man plant the regimental colour, round which the regiment had fought for some time with much obstinacy, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the colour-bearer retired last of all, turning round every now and then to shake his fist at the advancing rebels. General Hill said he felt quite sorry when he saw this gallant Yankee meet his doom.
General Ewell had come up at 3.30, on the enemy’s right (with part of his corps), and completed his discomfiture. General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in the front, whilst he performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular attack. The town of Gettysburg was now occupied by Ewell, and was full of Yankee dead and wounded. . . .
In the fight to-day nearly 6000 prisoners had been taken, and 10 guns. About 20,000 men must have been on the field on the Confederate side. The enemy had two corps d’armée engaged. All the prisoners belong, I think, to the 1st and 11th corps. This day’s work is called a “brisk little scurry,” and all anticipate a “big battle” to-morrow. . . .
At supper this evening, General Longstreet spoke of the enemy’s position as being “very formidable.” He also said that they would doubtless intrench themselves strongly during the night. The Staff officers spoke of the battle as a certainty, and the universal feeling in the army was one of profound contempt for an enemy whom they have beaten so constantly, and under so many disadvantages.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
14. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Capt. Charles Wright Wills, an Illinois cavalry officer in La Grange, Tennessee, hears the news of the invasion of Pennsylvania, and allows himself a bit of crowing at the lack of manhood in the effete Easterners, when compared with the doughtiness that Illinois men clearly possess: “Isn’t it music to hear those Pennsylvania fellers howl? I almost wish that Lee would cut the levee of Lake Ontario, and let the water over that country. Don’t tell father and mother. If Lee don’t wake them up to a sense of their misery, he isn’t the man that Price is. If ever Price reaches Illinois, and he swears he’s going to do it some day, you can reckon on seeing a smoke, sure! Don’t you folks feel a little blue over Lee’s move? Kind o’ as though you wish you hadn’t gone and done it! Never mind, you’ll get used to it. The first raid isn’t a sample. Wait until general Rebel somebody, establishes his headquarters in Canton, and you’ve all taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Imagine yourself going up to the headquarters with your oath in your hand and tears in your eyes to ask the general to please keep the soldiers from tearing the boards off your house (for bunks), or asking for something to eat out of his commissary department, and then blubber right out and tell him that the soldiers broke open your trunks and took your clothes and what little money you had, and you don’t know what in the world you’ll do. Many of these people are in this condition, and I hear a hundred of them tell the story every week. Every man in Illinois ought to die on the border rather than allow an invading force to march into our State.
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15. Friday, July 01, 1864: Abraham Lincoln appoints William Pitt Fessenden, Senator from Maine, as Secretary of the Treasury. He is immediately confirmed.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
16. Friday, July 01, 1864: Already passed in the U. S. House, the Senate approves the Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill 26-3 with 20 abstentions. Lincoln will pocket veto the bill. Radical Republicans had been unhappy with Reconstruction efforts in Louisiana and Arkansas requiring 10 per cent of previous voters approval to restore a state.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
A Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough [US] sailed to within the range of the fort's cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
http://www.lat34north.com/HistoricMarkers/CivilWar/EventDetails.cfm?EventKey=18630303
B Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia. Robert E. Lee [CS] attacked George B. McClellan [U.S.], whose men made a gallant stand in front of the James River. Lee called off his attack after failing to break the Union line. Lafayette McLaws, Fitz-John Porter, Darius Couch
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
B+ Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia. The Seven Days battles ended with a tremendous roar at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. The contending armies collided for the final time that week on ground that gave an immense advantage to the defenders—in this case McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. With the security of the James River and the powerful United States Navy at his back, McClellan elected to stop and invite battle. The Confederates, elated by their victories but frustrated by their inability to achieve truly decisive battlefield results, obliged McClellan by attacking Malvern Hill.
The hill itself was a modest elevation about 2 ½ miles north of the James River. Its strength lay not in its height, but rather in its fields of fire. Gently sloping open fields lay in front of the Union position, forcing any Confederate attacks against the hill to travel across that barren ground. McClellan unlimbered as much artillery as he could at the crest of the hill, facing in three directions. Nearly 70,000 infantry lay in support, most of them crowded in reserve on the back side of the hill.
General Lee recognized the power of Malvern Hill. In tandem with James Longstreet, one of his top subordinates, Lee devised a plan where Confederate artillery would attempt to seize control of Malvern Hill by suppressing the Union cannon there. Lee believed his infantry could assault and carry the position if they did not have to contend with the fearsome Union batteries.
The Confederate bombardment failed, but Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/mhbull.htm
B++ Tuesday, July 01, 1862: --- Battle of Malvern Hill: This battle is almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. McClellan is absent, but the senior officer on the spot, Gen. FitzJohn Porter, has had the timber cleared from the northward-facing slopes of the hill, and McClellans’ chief of artillery, Col. Henry J. Hunt, has placed 250 cannon, some nearly hub-to-hub, across the slopes. Most of the infantry of the Army of the Potomac are deployed. Lee lines up the divisions of Jackson, Whiting, D.H. Hill, and Ewell to make the assault,, with Magruder to follow up on the right. Hill and other officers oppose the attack, but Lee is confident that one more push will topple McClellan’s army. Muddy roads and poor maps hamper the Confederate approach. Magruder’s staff officers send Jackson on the wrong road, and he finds himself angling away from the battlefield, out of position to attack. Lee improvises a new line, putting in Huger to support D.H. Hill in the middle, and Jackson finally re-positioned on the C.S. left.
Because of the terrain, the Rebels are unable to deploy on the Union flanks at all. Lee intends to open an artillery barrage on the Federal positions, but Hunt beats him to it: a well-deployed force of cannon, with overlapping fields of fire, lays down an hour or more of fire that puts most of the Rebel artillery out of action; most of the Southern batteries that are still operational are now unable to fire, lacking support from other batteries in their exposed positions 1,200 yards from the Union guns. As the Rebel infantry advance at 3:30 PM, the Northern guns rip wide gaps in the lines. Armistead’s brigade in Huger’s division makes some progress against the Union left and drives the Union sharpshooters back, but as Magruder moves up to exploit the advantage, he does not have enough strength to make any inroads. Hill marches straight down the Quaker Road, deploys his brigades, only to see them shredded and turned back before they even get within 200 yards of the Federal lines. As Ewell’s troops (Trimble) are about to go forward, Jackson prevents them from doing so. Gen. Lafayette McLaws led two brigades forward at the end, and suffered heavy losses. Gen. D.H. Hill says that the assault was “not ward – it was murder.” Southern losses are appalling: over 5,600, and most of those in the space of less than an hour. Union Victory.
Losses: Killed Wounded Captured-Missing Total
Union 314 1,875 818
Confederate 869 4,241 540 5,650
Characteristically, after such a stupendous success, McClellan inexplicably orders the army to withdraw to Harrison’s Landing.
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C Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg July 1 – 3, 1863]. General Robert E. Lee [CS] advances into Pennsylvania where he meets George Meade [US]. First day battling north of the city. General John Reynolds is killed west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Less than a month earlier, Abraham Lincoln had offered him command of the Army of the Potomac. By the second day Union forces had retreated south, forming a strong line as men arrived almost continuously. On the third day, the infamous Pickett's Charge marked the end of the Confederates hope for a victory.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
C+ Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg. The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Two months prior to Gettysburg, Lee had dealt a stunning defeat to the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He then made plans for a Northern invasion in order to relieve pressure on war-weary Virginia and to seize the initiative from the Yankees. His army, numbering about 80,000, began moving on June 3. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Joseph Hooker and numbering just under 100,000, began moving shortly thereafter, staying between Lee and Washington, D.C. But on June 28, frustrated by the Lincoln administration’s restrictions on his autonomy as commander, Hooker resigned and was replaced by George G. Meade.
Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee’s army moved into Pennsylvania. On the morning of July 1, advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position. Lee’s forces would continue to batter each end of the Union position, before launching the infamous Pickett’s Charge against the Union center on July 3.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-gettysburg-begins
C++ Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1: Discovering that Gen. Heth has found Yankee troops in Gettysburg, Gen. A.P. Hill orders Heth to return to Gettysburg and push the Yankees out, supposing them to be merely militia. Heth marches down the Cashtown Road, with Pender’s Division right behind him. At about 5:30 AM, as his vedettes run into skirmishers from Buford’s cavalry, he moves a brigade (Archer’s) into line of battle, taps the Yankee line, and discovers a real force there on Herr Ridge and McPherson Ridge. Heth shakes out another brigade into line (Joseph Davis, nephew to the President of the CSA), and presses the attack. Caleff’s battery astride the Cashtown Road, with the cavalry brigades of Devin and Gamble, put up a stiff fight.
Buford sends back word to Gen. Reynolds to hurry reinforcements. By 10:00 AM, the Confederates have been repulsed with heavy losses, especially in Archer’s brigade of Tennesseans. Gen. John Reynolds arrives at this point, and he and Buford discuss the ground and what to do. Reynolds agrees with Buford that this ground must be held, and he sends word for his infantry---both the I and the XI Corps---to move up quickly to Gettysburg. As the Confederates again come forward, at about 10:30 AM, they meet the newly-deployed infantry from Wadsworth’s division, Meredith’s brigade: the “black hats” of the Iron Brigade, who throw the attack back with heavy losses. More I Corps units line up to the right of Meredith. Gen. Howard and the lead elements of the XI Corps soon arrive, and Howard begins to deploy them on the open ground north of the town. Back on McPherson Ridge, as Reynolds is directing the movement of the Iron Brigade in repelling Archer’s brigade at McPherson Woods, he is killed by a Rebel sniper. Command devolves upon Howard, but Howard does not know this for some time. Gen. Doubleday assumes command of the I Corps, and the fighting escalates. Heth’s division is played out, and withdraws for a time.
Meanwhile, units from Ewell’s II Corps appear on the roads leading into Gettysburg from the north and northeast. These are troops from Rodes’ and Early’s divisions. Rodes deploys perpendicular to Oak Ridge, intending to take the I Corps in flank. Early’s brigades smash into Howard’s XI Corps positions, which turn out to be badly placed and exposed, subject to flanking. As Howard shores up his right flank, each time a new Confederate unit flanks it. Barlow’s division, anchored on what becomes known as Barlow’s Knob, holds for a while against great odds---but Barlow is badly wounded and left for dead, and his division breaks and heads for the rear.
Rodes attacks is held up by pockets of Federal resistance, but the XI Corps is peeling away and fleeing in disorder through the streets of Gettysburg. Heth’s division rejoins the Rebel attack on the I Corps with fresh troops from Pender’s division. Doubleday sees that is flank is exposed, and the simple geometry of battlefield position tells him that his position in untenable. By 4:00 PM, the Federal lines are broken completely. The I Corps withdraws in better order than the XI Corps, but the Rebels scoop up large numbers of prisoners disoriented in the streets of Gettysburg.
The triumphant Confederates push the assault, taking over 3,000 prisoners. Gen. Schimmelpfennig of the XI Corps takes refuge in a pig sty, where he stays until the battle if over. The remnants of the Federal divisions flee to Cemetey Hill, which dominates the town below. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the II Corps, has been sent by Meade to take over command from Howard, and he begins directing the fortification of Cemetery Hill and Ridge.
Gen. Lee, having been drawn into battle before he was ready, senses victory within reach, and orders Gen Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill before the Yankees can re-form and entrench. There is a lull in the battle, and Ewell, who feels that Rodes and Early are too badly played out to make another assault, defers the decision. His third division, under Johnson, is not yet ready to deploy completely. The attack does not happen, even though Gen. A.P. Hill arrives with fresh troops on the field. The sun goes down as Federal reinforcements stream up the Emmitsburg, Taneytown, and Baltimore Roads to reinforce.
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D Friday, July 01, 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz saw an opening on the Confederate right and was able to make his getaway on a more direct route to friendly territory. He tried to save his guns but they became mired in a swamp and were spiked and abandoned, but he brought his division, plus some of Wilson's men, in to Federal lines soon after dark on the 30th.
Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson did not have it so easy as Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz. His command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
At the same time, serious allegations of plundering were made against Wilson and his men in the Confederate press. The charges were specific enough that Meade called Wilson to account for them, which brought an indignant reply from Wilson and a heated display of Meade's legendary temper in response.
http://www.petersburgsiege.org/wilson.htm
FYI LTC Trent KlugCW4 (Join to see)SPC Tina JonesSgt Axel HastingSGT Wayne DunnPVT Kenneth KrauseLTC (Join to see)PO3 Donald MurphySPC Deb Root-WhiteCWO2 John HeinzlSGT John C.Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Orlando IlliSSG Robert Pratt COL Jean (John) F. B. SSG Edward Tilton CSM Bruce Trego SSG Robert Webster SPC Jon O. SFC Richard Williamson
Allegations of war crimes against the confederates for shooting contrabands [supposed runaway slaves in 1864: “During Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.”
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Col. William Averell of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry offers this singular image and impression of the battle: “Over 5000 dead and wounded men were to be seen on the ground. They were in every attitude of distress. Curled up or sprawling singly and in heaps and rows. A third of them dead and dying, but enough living and moving to give the field a crawling appearance.”
Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Capt. Edward M Hardy, Co. G of the 6th Virginia Infantry, writes a letter to Rev. Aristides Spyker Smith with the news that his son Johnnie was killed in the assault on Malvern Hill: “Rev.d A. S. Smith, Petersburg Va. Dr. Sir, It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son John. R. Smith, a member of my company. He died like a patriot & a gentleman, while charging a Yankee Battery. It is needless to say to you that the loss of our beloved comrade is deeply regretted by the whole company. I sent you the last remains by Mr. Lewellen Southgate.
I am with much sympathy and respect, Yr. obt. svt. EM Hardy, Captain Co. “G” 6th Regt. V.V.
Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a Union officer serving on Gen. John Reynolds’s staff, writes in his memoir of the events of that day, as Reynolds dashed into Gettysburg: “When we reached the outskirts of Gettysburg, a man told us that the rebels were driving in our cavalry pickets, and immediately General Reynolds went into the town on a fast gallop, through it, and a mile out on the other side, where he found General Buford and the cavalry engaging the enemy, who were advancing in strong force. He immediately sent me to General Meade, 13 or 14 miles off, to say that the enemy were coming on in strong force, and that he was afraid they would get the heights on the other side of the town before he could; that he would fight them all through the town, however, and keep them back as long as possible.
I delivered the message to General Meade at 11.20, having been an hour and twenty minutes on my way. He seemed quite anxious about the matter, and said, “Good God! if the enemy get Gettysburg, I am lost.”
I started on my way back, and when half-way met an orderly, who told me that General Reynolds was shot. I did not believe him, but of course felt very anxious, and rode on as fast as possible to ascertain the truth of the matter. When near the town I met Captain Mitchell with an ambulance, and General Reynolds’s body. I felt very badly indeed about his death, as he had always treated me very kindly, and because he was the best general we had in our army. Brave, kind-hearted, modest, somewhat rough and wanting polish, he was a type of the true soldier. I cannot realize that he is dead.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Capt. Charles Wright Wills, an Illinois cavalry officer in La Grange, Tennessee, hears the news of the invasion of Pennsylvania, and allows himself a bit of crowing at the lack of manhood in the effete Easterners, when compared with the doughtiness that Illinois men clearly possess: “Isn’t it music to hear those Pennsylvania fellers howl? I almost wish that Lee would cut the levee of Lake Ontario, and let the water over that country. Don’t tell father and mother. If Lee don’t wake them up to a sense of their misery, he isn’t the man that Price is. If ever Price reaches Illinois, and he swears he’s going to do it some day, you can reckon on seeing a smoke, sure! Don’t you folks feel a little blue over Lee’s move? Kind o’ as though you wish you hadn’t gone and done it! Never mind, you’ll get used to it. The first raid isn’t a sample. Wait until general Rebel somebody, establishes his headquarters in Canton, and you’ve all taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Imagine yourself going up to the headquarters with your oath in your hand and tears in your eyes to ask the general to please keep the soldiers from tearing the boards off your house (for bunks), or asking for something to eat out of his commissary department, and then blubber right out and tell him that the soldiers broke open your trunks and took your clothes and what little money you had, and you don’t know what in the world you’ll do. Many of these people are in this condition, and I hear a hundred of them tell the story every week. Every man in Illinois ought to die on the border rather than allow an invading force to march into our State.
Pictures: 1863-07-01 iron brigade forward - z maritato; 1864-07-01 Wilson-Kautz Raid Map; 1863-07-01 Malvern Hill Battle map; 1862-07-01 Battle of Malvern Hill
A. Tuesday, July 01, Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska which was a three-masted schooner, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough sailed to within the range of the Fort McAllister’s cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The battery on the fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
B. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia was almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. The Confederate bombardment failed, but Robert E. Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
Background: The Seven Days battles ended with a tremendous roar at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. The contending armies collided for the final time that week on ground that gave an immense advantage to the defenders—in this case McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. With the security of the James River and the powerful United States Navy at his back, McClellan elected to stop and invite battle. The Confederates, elated by their victories but frustrated by their inability to achieve truly decisive battlefield results, obliged McClellan by attacking Malvern Hill.
The hill itself was a modest elevation about 2 ½ miles north of the James River. Its strength lay not in its height, but rather in its fields of fire. Gently sloping open fields lay in front of the Union position, forcing any Confederate attacks against the hill to travel across that barren ground. McClellan unlimbered as much artillery as he could at the crest of the hill, facing in three directions. Nearly 70,000 infantry lay in support, most of them crowded in reserve on the back side of the hill.
General Lee recognized the power of Malvern Hill. In tandem with James Longstreet, one of his top subordinates, Lee devised a plan where Confederate artillery would attempt to seize control of Malvern Hill by suppressing the Union cannon there. Lee believed his infantry could assault and carry the position if they did not have to contend with the fearsome Union batteries.
C. Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1 ends with Confederate advantage. In the morning advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position.
Background: The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Two months prior to Gettysburg, Lee had dealt a stunning defeat to the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He then made plans for a Northern invasion in order to relieve pressure on war-weary Virginia and to seize the initiative from the Yankees. His army, numbering about 80,000, began moving on June 3. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Joseph Hooker and numbering just under 100,000, began moving shortly thereafter, staying between Lee and Washington, D.C. But on June 28, frustrated by the Lincoln administration’s restrictions on his autonomy as commander, Hooker resigned and was replaced by George G. Meade.
Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee’s army moved into Pennsylvania.
Details: Discovering that Gen. Heth has found Yankee troops in Gettysburg, Gen. A.P. Hill orders Heth to return to Gettysburg and push the Yankees out, supposing them to be merely militia. Heth marches down the Cashtown Road, with Pender’s Division right behind him. At about 5:30 AM, as his vedettes run into skirmishers from Buford’s cavalry, he moves a brigade (Archer’s) into line of battle, taps the Yankee line, and discovers a real force there on Herr Ridge and McPherson Ridge. Heth shakes out another brigade into line (Joseph Davis, nephew to the President of the CSA), and presses the attack. Caleff’s battery astride the Cashtown Road, with the cavalry brigades of Devin and Gamble, put up a stiff fight.
Buford sends back word to Gen. Reynolds to hurry reinforcements. By 10:00 AM, the Confederates have been repulsed with heavy losses, especially in Archer’s brigade of Tennesseans. Gen. John Reynolds arrives at this point, and he and Buford discuss the ground and what to do. Reynolds agrees with Buford that this ground must be held, and he sends word for his infantry---both the I and the XI Corps---to move up quickly to Gettysburg. As the Confederates again come forward, at about 10:30 AM, they meet the newly-deployed infantry from Wadsworth’s division, Meredith’s brigade: the “black hats” of the Iron Brigade, who throw the attack back with heavy losses. More I Corps units line up to the right of Meredith. Gen. Howard and the lead elements of the XI Corps soon arrive, and Howard begins to deploy them on the open ground north of the town. Back on McPherson Ridge, as Reynolds is directing the movement of the Iron Brigade in repelling Archer’s brigade at McPherson Woods, he is killed by a Rebel sniper. Command devolves upon Howard, but Howard does not know this for some time. Gen. Doubleday assumes command of the I Corps, and the fighting escalates. Heth’s division is played out, and withdraws for a time.
Meanwhile, units from Ewell’s II Corps appear on the roads leading into Gettysburg from the north and northeast. These are troops from Rodes’ and Early’s divisions. Rodes deploys perpendicular to Oak Ridge, intending to take the I Corps in flank. Early’s brigades smash into Howard’s XI Corps positions, which turn out to be badly placed and exposed, subject to flanking. As Howard shores up his right flank, each time a new Confederate unit flanks it. Barlow’s division, anchored on what becomes known as Barlow’s Knob, holds for a while against great odds---but Barlow is badly wounded and left for dead, and his division breaks and heads for the rear.
Rodes attacks is held up by pockets of Federal resistance, but the XI Corps is peeling away and fleeing in disorder through the streets of Gettysburg. Heth’s division rejoins the Rebel attack on the I Corps with fresh troops from Pender’s division. Doubleday sees that is flank is exposed, and the simple geometry of battlefield position tells him that his position in untenable. By 4:00 PM, the Federal lines are broken completely. The I Corps withdraws in better order than the XI Corps, but the Rebels scoop up large numbers of prisoners disoriented in the streets of Gettysburg.
The triumphant Confederates push the assault, taking over 3,000 prisoners. Gen. Schimmelpfennig of the XI Corps takes refuge in a pig sty, where he stays until the battle if over. The remnants of the Federal divisions flee to Cemetey Hill, which dominates the town below. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the II Corps, has been sent by Meade to take over command from Howard, and he begins directing the fortification of Cemetery Hill and Ridge.
Gen. Lee, having been drawn into battle before he was ready, senses victory within reach, and orders Gen Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill before the Yankees can re-form and entrench. There is a lull in the battle, and Ewell, who feels that Rodes and Early are too badly played out to make another assault, defers the decision. His third division, under Johnson, is not yet ready to deploy completely. The attack does not happen, even though Gen. A.P. Hill arrives with fresh troops on the field. The sun goes down as Federal reinforcements stream up the Emmitsburg, Taneytown, and Baltimore Roads to reinforce.
D. Friday, July 01, 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson’s command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
Background: Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz saw an opening on the Confederate right and was able to make his getaway on a more direct route to friendly territory. He tried to save his guns but they became mired in a swamp and were spiked and abandoned, but he brought his division, plus some of Wilson's men, in to Federal lines soon after dark on the 30th.
Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson did not have it so easy as Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz.
Aftermath: At the same time, serious allegations of plundering were made against Wilson and his men in the Confederate press. The charges were specific enough that Meade called Wilson to account for them, which brought an indignant reply from Wilson and a heated display of Meade's legendary temper in response.
1. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
2. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 40
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
3. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 35
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
4. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Surgeon Alfred L. Castleman, of the Union army, gives his description of the Battle of Malvern Hill, which he witnessed: “After a march of about two miles, we halted on the slope of a hill which concealed us from an immense open plain stretching out in our front to Malvern Hills. Here was progressing a battle which will be famed in history, so long as battles are fought on earth. I doubt whether one so bloody, in proportion to numbers, or so obstinately contested, has been fought since the invention of gunpowder. . . . Our Division was drawn up in line on the slope of the hill referred to, just so as to be concealed by its brow from the plain in front, yet so near as to perceive the advance of an enemy approaching over it, and here we lay all day in reserve, expecting our main body to be driven back on us, . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
5. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- The battle of Malvern Hill still rages, and what carnage. Hand to hand the fight goes on. The dead and the dying lie heaped together. Charge after charge is made on our artillery, with a demoniac will to take it, if it costs them half their army. Down it mows their charging ranks, till they lie in heaps and rows, from behind which our men fight as securely as if in rifle pits. . . . The slaughter is terrible, and to add to the carnage, our gun boats are throwing their murderous missiles with furious effect into the ranks of our enemy. By their shots huge trees are uprooted or torn into shreds, which whip the combatants to death.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
6. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Col. William Averell of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry offers this singular image and impression of the battle: “Over 5000 dead and wounded men were to be seen on the ground. They were in every attitude of distress. Curled up or sprawling singly and in heaps and rows. A third of them dead and dying, but enough living and moving to give the field a crawling appearance.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
7. Tuesday, July 01, 1862 --- Capt. Edward M Hardy, Co. G of the 6th Virginia Infantry, writes a letter to Rev. Aristides Spyker Smith with the news that his son Johnnie was killed in the assault on Malvern Hill: “Rev.d A. S. Smith, Petersburg Va. Dr. Sir, It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son John. R. Smith, a member of my company. He died like a patriot & a gentleman, while charging a Yankee Battery. It is needless to say to you that the loss of our beloved comrade is deeply regretted by the whole company. I sent you the last remains by Mr. Lewellen Southgate.
I am with much sympathy and respect, Yr. obt. svt. EM Hardy, Captain Co. “G” 6th Regt. V.V.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
8. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Assessment of the Seven Days' Battles: Lee risked the survival of the Confederacy by conducting such audacious attacks against an army much larger than his---indeed, Lee's critics have argued that the 20,000 men he recklesly lost in those 7 days were irreplacable, and crippled the Confederacy's ability to never came close to matching the Federal numbers in the field. Others argue that Lee's attacks, although tactically costly, gave Richmond the breathing space it needed, and pushed McClellan back and away from Richmond, where maintaining the status quo could only have guaranteed a Federal victory. Lee's victories electrified the South, and gave morale a permanent boost. It could be valid to argue that Lee incurred losses that he could not afford for a victory that he could not do without.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
9. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, incorporating the Union Pacific Railroad and subsidizing it with federal funds
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
10. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: [circa] General David Hunter organizes the 1st South Carolina Regiment. It will later become the 33rd U. S. Colored Infantry.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
11. Tuesday, July 01, 1862: United States public debt exceeds $500 million for the first time.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
12. Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a Union officer serving on Gen. John Reynolds’s staff, writes in his memoir of the events of that day, as Reynolds dashed into Gettysburg: “When we reached the outskirts of Gettysburg, a man told us that the rebels were driving in our cavalry pickets, and immediately General Reynolds went into the town on a fast gallop, through it, and a mile out on the other side, where he found General Buford and the cavalry engaging the enemy, who were advancing in strong force. He immediately sent me to General Meade, 13 or 14 miles off, to say that the enemy were coming on in strong force, and that he was afraid they would get the heights on the other side of the town before he could; that he would fight them all through the town, however, and keep them back as long as possible.
I delivered the message to General Meade at 11.20, having been an hour and twenty minutes on my way. He seemed quite anxious about the matter, and said, “Good God! if the enemy get Gettysburg, I am lost.”
I started on my way back, and when half-way met an orderly, who told me that General Reynolds was shot. I did not believe him, but of course felt very anxious, and rode on as fast as possible to ascertain the truth of the matter. When near the town I met Captain Mitchell with an ambulance, and General Reynolds’s body. I felt very badly indeed about his death, as he had always treated me very kindly, and because he was the best general we had in our army. Brave, kind-hearted, modest, somewhat rough and wanting polish, he was a type of the true soldier. I cannot realize that he is dead.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
13. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Lt. Col. Fremantle, the British observer, writes in his journal of the beginning of the battle, and the early Confederate successes: “We now began to meet Yankee prisoners coming to the rear in considerable numbers: many of them were wounded, but they seemed already to be on excellent terms with their captors, with whom they had commenced swapping canteens, tobacco, &c. Among them was a Pennsylvanian colonel, a miserable object from a wound in his face. In answer to a question, I heard one of them remark, with a laugh, “We’re pretty nigh whipped already.” We next came to a Confederate soldier carrying a Yankee colour, belonging, I think, to a Pennsylvanian regiment, which he told us he had just captured.
At 4.30 P.m. we came in sight of Gettysburg and joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on the top of one of the ridges which form the peculiar feature of the country round Gettysburg. We could see the enemy retreating up one of the opposite ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. The position into which the enemy had been driven was evidently a strong one. His right appeared to rest on a cemetery, on the top of a high ridge to the right of Gettysburg, as we looked at it.
General Hill now came up and told me he had been very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very delicate. He said he had had two of his divisions engaged, and had driven the enemy four miles into his present position, capturing a great many prisoners, some cannon, and some colours; he said, however, that the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them. He pointed out a railway cutting, in which they had made a good stand; also, a field in the centre of which he had seen a man plant the regimental colour, round which the regiment had fought for some time with much obstinacy, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the colour-bearer retired last of all, turning round every now and then to shake his fist at the advancing rebels. General Hill said he felt quite sorry when he saw this gallant Yankee meet his doom.
General Ewell had come up at 3.30, on the enemy’s right (with part of his corps), and completed his discomfiture. General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in the front, whilst he performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular attack. The town of Gettysburg was now occupied by Ewell, and was full of Yankee dead and wounded. . . .
In the fight to-day nearly 6000 prisoners had been taken, and 10 guns. About 20,000 men must have been on the field on the Confederate side. The enemy had two corps d’armée engaged. All the prisoners belong, I think, to the 1st and 11th corps. This day’s work is called a “brisk little scurry,” and all anticipate a “big battle” to-morrow. . . .
At supper this evening, General Longstreet spoke of the enemy’s position as being “very formidable.” He also said that they would doubtless intrench themselves strongly during the night. The Staff officers spoke of the battle as a certainty, and the universal feeling in the army was one of profound contempt for an enemy whom they have beaten so constantly, and under so many disadvantages.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
14. Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Capt. Charles Wright Wills, an Illinois cavalry officer in La Grange, Tennessee, hears the news of the invasion of Pennsylvania, and allows himself a bit of crowing at the lack of manhood in the effete Easterners, when compared with the doughtiness that Illinois men clearly possess: “Isn’t it music to hear those Pennsylvania fellers howl? I almost wish that Lee would cut the levee of Lake Ontario, and let the water over that country. Don’t tell father and mother. If Lee don’t wake them up to a sense of their misery, he isn’t the man that Price is. If ever Price reaches Illinois, and he swears he’s going to do it some day, you can reckon on seeing a smoke, sure! Don’t you folks feel a little blue over Lee’s move? Kind o’ as though you wish you hadn’t gone and done it! Never mind, you’ll get used to it. The first raid isn’t a sample. Wait until general Rebel somebody, establishes his headquarters in Canton, and you’ve all taken the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Imagine yourself going up to the headquarters with your oath in your hand and tears in your eyes to ask the general to please keep the soldiers from tearing the boards off your house (for bunks), or asking for something to eat out of his commissary department, and then blubber right out and tell him that the soldiers broke open your trunks and took your clothes and what little money you had, and you don’t know what in the world you’ll do. Many of these people are in this condition, and I hear a hundred of them tell the story every week. Every man in Illinois ought to die on the border rather than allow an invading force to march into our State.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
15. Friday, July 01, 1864: Abraham Lincoln appoints William Pitt Fessenden, Senator from Maine, as Secretary of the Treasury. He is immediately confirmed.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
16. Friday, July 01, 1864: Already passed in the U. S. House, the Senate approves the Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill 26-3 with 20 abstentions. Lincoln will pocket veto the bill. Radical Republicans had been unhappy with Reconstruction efforts in Louisiana and Arkansas requiring 10 per cent of previous voters approval to restore a state.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
A Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Naval assault on Fort McAllister, Georgia. In an effort to destroy an unmarked schooner, the gunboat USS Potomska, under the command of Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough [US] sailed to within the range of the fort's cannons and opened fire on the schooner. The fort returned fire. Being outgunned, the Potomska withdrew. The Potomska tried to return at night to destroy the unmarked schooner but by then the schooner was gone.
http://www.lat34north.com/HistoricMarkers/CivilWar/EventDetails.cfm?EventKey=18630303
B Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia. Robert E. Lee [CS] attacked George B. McClellan [U.S.], whose men made a gallant stand in front of the James River. Lee called off his attack after failing to break the Union line. Lafayette McLaws, Fitz-John Porter, Darius Couch
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
B+ Tuesday, July 01, 1862: Battle of Malvern Hill Cliffs, Virginia. The Seven Days battles ended with a tremendous roar at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. The contending armies collided for the final time that week on ground that gave an immense advantage to the defenders—in this case McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. With the security of the James River and the powerful United States Navy at his back, McClellan elected to stop and invite battle. The Confederates, elated by their victories but frustrated by their inability to achieve truly decisive battlefield results, obliged McClellan by attacking Malvern Hill.
The hill itself was a modest elevation about 2 ½ miles north of the James River. Its strength lay not in its height, but rather in its fields of fire. Gently sloping open fields lay in front of the Union position, forcing any Confederate attacks against the hill to travel across that barren ground. McClellan unlimbered as much artillery as he could at the crest of the hill, facing in three directions. Nearly 70,000 infantry lay in support, most of them crowded in reserve on the back side of the hill.
General Lee recognized the power of Malvern Hill. In tandem with James Longstreet, one of his top subordinates, Lee devised a plan where Confederate artillery would attempt to seize control of Malvern Hill by suppressing the Union cannon there. Lee believed his infantry could assault and carry the position if they did not have to contend with the fearsome Union batteries.
The Confederate bombardment failed, but Lee’s infantry attacked anyway, thrown into the charge after a series of misunderstandings and bungled orders. Lee himself was absent when the heaviest fighting erupted. He was away looking for any alternate route that would allow him to bypass Malvern Hill. But once the attack started, Lee threw his men into the fray. Some twenty separate brigades of Southern infantry advanced across the open ground at different times. As the Confederate leaders had feared, the Federal batteries proved dominant. Most attacks sputtered and stalled well short of the hill’s crest. Occasionally McClellan’s infantry, commanded by Fitz John Porter, George Morell, and Darius Couch, sallied forward to deliver a fatal volley or two. Pieces of Confederate divisions led by D. H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, D. R. Jones, Lafayette McLaws, Richard S. Ewell, and W. H. C. Whiting advanced at different times, always without success. General John B. Magruder organized most of the attacks.
Late in the day, a few Union brigades and some fresh artillery raced to the hilltop in support. But in fact only a small segment of the Army of the Potomac saw action at Malvern Hill. The dominance of the position enabled less than one-third of the Union army to defeat a larger chunk of the Confederate army at Malvern Hill.
As with each of the other battles during the dramatic week, darkness concluded the action. Malvern Hill had demonstrated the power and efficiency of the Union artillery in particular. Confederate leaders and soldiers alike could look back on poor command and control as the principal cause of their defeat. The casualty totals were more balanced than expected for a battle in which the outcome never was in doubt. Slightly more than 5000 Confederates fell killed and wounded, while roughly 3000 Union soldiers met a similar fate.
https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/mhbull.htm
B++ Tuesday, July 01, 1862: --- Battle of Malvern Hill: This battle is almost universally labeled as Robert E. Lee’s worst mistake of the war. McClellan is absent, but the senior officer on the spot, Gen. FitzJohn Porter, has had the timber cleared from the northward-facing slopes of the hill, and McClellans’ chief of artillery, Col. Henry J. Hunt, has placed 250 cannon, some nearly hub-to-hub, across the slopes. Most of the infantry of the Army of the Potomac are deployed. Lee lines up the divisions of Jackson, Whiting, D.H. Hill, and Ewell to make the assault,, with Magruder to follow up on the right. Hill and other officers oppose the attack, but Lee is confident that one more push will topple McClellan’s army. Muddy roads and poor maps hamper the Confederate approach. Magruder’s staff officers send Jackson on the wrong road, and he finds himself angling away from the battlefield, out of position to attack. Lee improvises a new line, putting in Huger to support D.H. Hill in the middle, and Jackson finally re-positioned on the C.S. left.
Because of the terrain, the Rebels are unable to deploy on the Union flanks at all. Lee intends to open an artillery barrage on the Federal positions, but Hunt beats him to it: a well-deployed force of cannon, with overlapping fields of fire, lays down an hour or more of fire that puts most of the Rebel artillery out of action; most of the Southern batteries that are still operational are now unable to fire, lacking support from other batteries in their exposed positions 1,200 yards from the Union guns. As the Rebel infantry advance at 3:30 PM, the Northern guns rip wide gaps in the lines. Armistead’s brigade in Huger’s division makes some progress against the Union left and drives the Union sharpshooters back, but as Magruder moves up to exploit the advantage, he does not have enough strength to make any inroads. Hill marches straight down the Quaker Road, deploys his brigades, only to see them shredded and turned back before they even get within 200 yards of the Federal lines. As Ewell’s troops (Trimble) are about to go forward, Jackson prevents them from doing so. Gen. Lafayette McLaws led two brigades forward at the end, and suffered heavy losses. Gen. D.H. Hill says that the assault was “not ward – it was murder.” Southern losses are appalling: over 5,600, and most of those in the space of less than an hour. Union Victory.
Losses: Killed Wounded Captured-Missing Total
Union 314 1,875 818
Confederate 869 4,241 540 5,650
Characteristically, after such a stupendous success, McClellan inexplicably orders the army to withdraw to Harrison’s Landing.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1862
C Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg July 1 – 3, 1863]. General Robert E. Lee [CS] advances into Pennsylvania where he meets George Meade [US]. First day battling north of the city. General John Reynolds is killed west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Less than a month earlier, Abraham Lincoln had offered him command of the Army of the Potomac. By the second day Union forces had retreated south, forming a strong line as men arrived almost continuously. On the third day, the infamous Pickett's Charge marked the end of the Confederates hope for a victory.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
C+ Wednesday, July 01, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg. The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Two months prior to Gettysburg, Lee had dealt a stunning defeat to the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He then made plans for a Northern invasion in order to relieve pressure on war-weary Virginia and to seize the initiative from the Yankees. His army, numbering about 80,000, began moving on June 3. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Joseph Hooker and numbering just under 100,000, began moving shortly thereafter, staying between Lee and Washington, D.C. But on June 28, frustrated by the Lincoln administration’s restrictions on his autonomy as commander, Hooker resigned and was replaced by George G. Meade.
Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee’s army moved into Pennsylvania. On the morning of July 1, advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.
By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position. Lee’s forces would continue to batter each end of the Union position, before launching the infamous Pickett’s Charge against the Union center on July 3.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-gettysburg-begins
C++ Wednesday, July 01, 1863 --- Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Day 1: Discovering that Gen. Heth has found Yankee troops in Gettysburg, Gen. A.P. Hill orders Heth to return to Gettysburg and push the Yankees out, supposing them to be merely militia. Heth marches down the Cashtown Road, with Pender’s Division right behind him. At about 5:30 AM, as his vedettes run into skirmishers from Buford’s cavalry, he moves a brigade (Archer’s) into line of battle, taps the Yankee line, and discovers a real force there on Herr Ridge and McPherson Ridge. Heth shakes out another brigade into line (Joseph Davis, nephew to the President of the CSA), and presses the attack. Caleff’s battery astride the Cashtown Road, with the cavalry brigades of Devin and Gamble, put up a stiff fight.
Buford sends back word to Gen. Reynolds to hurry reinforcements. By 10:00 AM, the Confederates have been repulsed with heavy losses, especially in Archer’s brigade of Tennesseans. Gen. John Reynolds arrives at this point, and he and Buford discuss the ground and what to do. Reynolds agrees with Buford that this ground must be held, and he sends word for his infantry---both the I and the XI Corps---to move up quickly to Gettysburg. As the Confederates again come forward, at about 10:30 AM, they meet the newly-deployed infantry from Wadsworth’s division, Meredith’s brigade: the “black hats” of the Iron Brigade, who throw the attack back with heavy losses. More I Corps units line up to the right of Meredith. Gen. Howard and the lead elements of the XI Corps soon arrive, and Howard begins to deploy them on the open ground north of the town. Back on McPherson Ridge, as Reynolds is directing the movement of the Iron Brigade in repelling Archer’s brigade at McPherson Woods, he is killed by a Rebel sniper. Command devolves upon Howard, but Howard does not know this for some time. Gen. Doubleday assumes command of the I Corps, and the fighting escalates. Heth’s division is played out, and withdraws for a time.
Meanwhile, units from Ewell’s II Corps appear on the roads leading into Gettysburg from the north and northeast. These are troops from Rodes’ and Early’s divisions. Rodes deploys perpendicular to Oak Ridge, intending to take the I Corps in flank. Early’s brigades smash into Howard’s XI Corps positions, which turn out to be badly placed and exposed, subject to flanking. As Howard shores up his right flank, each time a new Confederate unit flanks it. Barlow’s division, anchored on what becomes known as Barlow’s Knob, holds for a while against great odds---but Barlow is badly wounded and left for dead, and his division breaks and heads for the rear.
Rodes attacks is held up by pockets of Federal resistance, but the XI Corps is peeling away and fleeing in disorder through the streets of Gettysburg. Heth’s division rejoins the Rebel attack on the I Corps with fresh troops from Pender’s division. Doubleday sees that is flank is exposed, and the simple geometry of battlefield position tells him that his position in untenable. By 4:00 PM, the Federal lines are broken completely. The I Corps withdraws in better order than the XI Corps, but the Rebels scoop up large numbers of prisoners disoriented in the streets of Gettysburg.
The triumphant Confederates push the assault, taking over 3,000 prisoners. Gen. Schimmelpfennig of the XI Corps takes refuge in a pig sty, where he stays until the battle if over. The remnants of the Federal divisions flee to Cemetey Hill, which dominates the town below. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the II Corps, has been sent by Meade to take over command from Howard, and he begins directing the fortification of Cemetery Hill and Ridge.
Gen. Lee, having been drawn into battle before he was ready, senses victory within reach, and orders Gen Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill before the Yankees can re-form and entrench. There is a lull in the battle, and Ewell, who feels that Rodes and Early are too badly played out to make another assault, defers the decision. His third division, under Johnson, is not yet ready to deploy completely. The attack does not happen, even though Gen. A.P. Hill arrives with fresh troops on the field. The sun goes down as Federal reinforcements stream up the Emmitsburg, Taneytown, and Baltimore Roads to reinforce.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+1%2C+1863
D Friday, July 01, 1864: End of the Wilson-Kautz Raid [June 22-July 1, 1864]. Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz saw an opening on the Confederate right and was able to make his getaway on a more direct route to friendly territory. He tried to save his guns but they became mired in a swamp and were spiked and abandoned, but he brought his division, plus some of Wilson's men, in to Federal lines soon after dark on the 30th.
Brig. Gen. James Harrison Wilson did not have it so easy as Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz. His command was pursued through the Virginia countryside for over 2 days, covering some 125 miles in 60 hours of hard riding, before finally reaching Union lines along the James River on the evening of July 1st.
During Wilson's long ride across Virginia, a large number of slaves had begun following his command, in the hope of thereby reaching Federal lines and freedom. During the wild dash for the Federal lines from Reams Station these unfortunate people were largely left behind, with the result that the Petersburg papers for weeks after the raid carried announcements of runaway slaves being held in the city. Some Federal accounts describe Confederate troopers breaking off their pursuit of the Yankees to follow and then shoot down the fleeing contrabands.
At the same time, serious allegations of plundering were made against Wilson and his men in the Confederate press. The charges were specific enough that Meade called Wilson to account for them, which brought an indignant reply from Wilson and a heated display of Meade's legendary temper in response.
http://www.petersburgsiege.org/wilson.htm
FYI LTC Trent KlugCW4 (Join to see)SPC Tina JonesSgt Axel HastingSGT Wayne DunnPVT Kenneth KrauseLTC (Join to see)PO3 Donald MurphySPC Deb Root-WhiteCWO2 John HeinzlSGT John C.Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Orlando IlliSSG Robert Pratt COL Jean (John) F. B. SSG Edward Tilton CSM Bruce Trego SSG Robert Webster SPC Jon O. SFC Richard Williamson
The American Civil War 150 Years Ago Today: Search results for July 1, 1863
A no-frills day-by-day account of what was happening 150 years ago, this blog is intended to be a way that we can experience or remember the Civil War with more immediacy, in addition to understanding the flow of time as we live in it.
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SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D
LTC Stephen F. Google "videos of ghosts on the Gettysburg Battlefield" and share your thoughts on these phenomenal videos.
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SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.D
I never been in Gettysburg but could be a great experience for both. Sir
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SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D
SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.D Indeed it is Doctor, and no need to even consider buying a keepsake, because the memories and emotions you will take with you, will last a lifetime!
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LTC Stephen F.
Thank you my brother-in-Christ for letting me know SFC Dr. Jesus Garcia-Arce, Psy.D I have been to Gettysburg many times since I was a child. It is a sobering expereince.
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For those RallyPoint members who like tactical maps here are three from July 1, 1863.
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1a Heth's tentative opening attacks on Buford's cavalry on the ridges west of Gettysburg.
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1b Ewell's troops come down from the north and northeast
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1c The Federals attempt to re-deploy on Cemetery Hill.
FYI SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin BriantCPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell1stSgt Eugene Harless MSG Greg KellyLTC Thomas Tennant GySgt Jack Wallace LTC (Join to see)SPC (Join to see) SSG (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SPC Jon O. SSG Michael Noll SSG William Jones SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SGT Tiffanie G. CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1a Heth's tentative opening attacks on Buford's cavalry on the ridges west of Gettysburg.
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1b Ewell's troops come down from the north and northeast
1863-07-01 Gettysburg Day 1c The Federals attempt to re-deploy on Cemetery Hill.
FYI SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin BriantCPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell1stSgt Eugene Harless MSG Greg KellyLTC Thomas Tennant GySgt Jack Wallace LTC (Join to see)SPC (Join to see) SSG (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SPC Jon O. SSG Michael Noll SSG William Jones SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SGT Tiffanie G. CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw
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Battle of Gettysburg gets my vote; however, the July 4, 1863 surrender of Vicksburg to Gen. U. S. Grant was just as war winning & pivotal. That surrender completed Ge. Scott's anaconda strategy to defeat the South.
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LTC Stephen F.
Thank you my civil war history appreciating friend and brother-in-Christ SSgt Robert Marx for letting us know you voted for Day 1 of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa as the most significant event of July 1 during the US Civil War
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