What was the most significant event on July 19 during the U.S. Civil War?

In 1862, then Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart commends, a recent first lieutenant of the federal First Virginia cavalry who has become a CSA soldier by the name of, John S. Mosby to Major General Thomas J. Jackson as a scout.
In 1862, Stonewall Jackson foot cavalry gets to Gordonsville, Virginia before the Federal Cavalry. This action placed the bulk of Jackson’s forces totaling 11,000 soldiers in the path of Federal General Pope’s planned route.
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.
Saturday, July 19, 1862: Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, in command of Lee’s cavalry, sends a young lieutenant on a special scouting mission at the young man’s own request. Thus begins the legend of the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy, John Singleton Mosby. Stuart writes a letter of introduction to Stonewall Jackson, whose troops are nearing the Federal positions: HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY BRIGADE. Major General T. J. JACKSON, Commanding Army of the Valley: ‘GENERAL: The bearer, John S. Mosby, late first lieutenant, First Virginia cavalry, is en route to scout beyond the enemy's lines toward Manassas and Fairfax. He is bold, daring, intelligent, and discreet. The information he may be obtain and transmit to you may be relied upon, and I have no doubt that he will soon give additional proofs of his value. Did you receive the volume of Napoleon and his Maxims I sent you through General Charles S. Winder's orderly? Most respectfully, your obedient servant, J. E. B. STUART, Brigadier-General, Commanding Cavalry.
Sunday, July 19, 1863: George Templeton Strong, who observed the riots as closely and personally as anyone could, offers this shocked assessment, and a surprisingly virulent tirade against the Irish: “Not half of this memorable week has been written. I could put down pages of incidents that the newspapers have omitted, any one of which in ordinary times be the town’s talk. Men and ladies attacked and plundered by daylight in the streets; private houses suddenly invaded by gangs of a dozen ruffians and sacked, while the women and children run off for their lives. Then there is the unspeakable infamy of the nigger persecution. They are the most peacable, sober, and inoffensive of our poor, and the outrages they have suffered during this last week are less excusable---are founded on worse pretext and less provocation---than St. Bartholomew’s or the Jew-hunting of the Middle Ages. This is a nice town to call itself a centre of civilization! Life and personal property less safe than in Tipperary, and the “people” (as the Herald calls them) burning orphan asylums and conducting a massacre. How this infernal slavery system has corrupted our blood, North as well as South! . . .
I am sorry to find that England is right about the lower class of Irish. They are brutal, base, cruel, cowards, and as insolent as base. Choate (at the Union League Club) tells me he heard this proposition put forth by one . . . with a knot of his brethren last Monday: “Sure and if them dam Dutch would jine us we’d drive the dam Yankees out of New York entirely!” These caitiffs have a trick, I hear, of posting themselves at the window of a tenement house with a musket, while a woman with a baby in her arms squats at their feet. Paddy fires on the police and instantly squats to reload, while Mrs. Paddy rises and looks out. Of course, one can’t fire at a window where there is a woman with a child!! But how is one to deal with women who assemble around the lamp-post to which a Negro had been hanged and cut off certain parts of his body to keep as souvenirs? Have they any womanly privilege, immunity, or sanctity?
No wonder St. Patrick drove all the venomous vermin out of Ireland! Its biped mammalia supply that island its full average share of creatures that crawl and eat dirt and poison every community they infest. Vipers were superfluous. But my own theory is that St. Patrick’s campaign against the snakes is a Popish delusion. They perished of biting the Irish people.”
Pictures: 1863-07-19 black troops fort Wagner 1500 Harpers Weekly; USS queen city; 1863-07-19 54th Massachusetts Soldiers; USS St Clair

A. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Gordonsville, Virginia. Gen. Stonewall Jackson and his 11,000 men arrive in Gordonsville, after a swift march, and thus place themselves athwart the intended invasion route of Gen. John Pope and his Federal forces. Gen. John Hatch of the Union Cavalry approaches Gordonsville cautiously, with 3,000 troopers and a few infantry soldiers, having failed in his assignment to conduct a swift raid and take Gordonsville before the Rebels arrive. Pope demands answers, and Hatch’s corps commander Nathaniel Banks has no answers.
Details: Gordonsville, Virginia. Stonewall Jackson’s 11,000 Confederate troops arrived in Gordonsville, securing the railroad link between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson had been pushing General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, to follow up the success before Richmond with a push towards the north – perhaps even an invasion of the north. While Lee couldn’t commit his entire force to such a venture, he once again gave Jackson an independent command, with orders to oppose the advance of the Federals at Culpeper Court House.
Action: General Hatch started his day by doing nothing. He had heard more rumors (which were actually true) that Ewell was encamped between Gordonsville and Madison Court House. The reports told of a large force with quite a bit of artillery (which Hatch was now lacking). He would, however, stay in Madison, keeping an eye on Ewell.
Not long later, Hatch’s men encountered a Union spy who had just been in Richmond. The spy claimed that Ewell had 6,000 men and was waiting for Hatch to attack. Jackson, he said, was coming up and when united with Ewell, would have 30,000 under his command.
General Hatch then suggested a new plan, worded as if it wasn’t a retreat. He proposed that a new line be established at Sperryville (twenty miles north of Madison, and forty miles north of Ewell’s troops at Gordonsville). Pope, whose only objective was to cut the Virginia Central line, would not be thrilled with this new idea.
It wasn’t just Ewell’s Division that was in Gordonsville. Jackson’s entire command entered the town on this date. There, he was met by his friend and cartographer, Jedediah Hotchkiss. He saw that Jackson looked “the worse for his Chickahominey trip, and so do the troops.”
Pope could not know any of this, of course. Though reports had Jackson’s force at nearly three times its actual number – the same reports claimed that he wasn’t yet in Gordonsville. Tired of dealing with Hatch, Pope turned to General Rufus King, commanding a division under General Irvin McDowell, near Fredericksburg. King sent the brash Judson Kilpatrick (who had not yet earned the moniker “Kill Cavalry”) to see what he could do to the Virginia Central line.
Kilpatrick and the 2nd New York Cavalry left camp at 7pm and rode through the night. Their destination was Beaver Dam. Though it was thirty-five miles away from Gordonsville, cutting the line there would have the same effect as cutting the line anywhere else.
At the same time, a Confederate Captain named John Singleton Mosby was staying for the night at Beaver Dam. Mosby, an officer in General Jeb Stuart’s Rebel Cavalry, wanted to render service to his new country by raising a band of partisan rangers. He saw that General Pope’s Army of Virginia was situated at Warrenton with cavalry tentacles extended south. This was the perfect place for his type of work, which would send marauding bands of Rebels to the rear of Pope’s Army, causing the Federals to use their cavalry between their main body and Washington, rather than towards Jackson’s command at Gordonsville.
Stuart liked the plan, but could offer no troops as he was readying his force for action. Stuart sent Mosby to Jackson, who, Stuart assured him, would give Mosby the troops he needed. He traveled to Beaver Dam station “with a club-footed companion” who was except from military service. They stayed the night with a nearby farmer and planned to catch the morning train to Gordonsville.
Background: The Federals, commanded by General John Pope, were gathering twenty or so miles north of Culpeper, around Warrenton and Sperryville. Pope had ordered his cavalry, commanded by General John Hatch, with 3,000 troopers to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad at Gordonsville. If he met no resistance, he was to continue on to Charlottesville and the James River. Pope expected the order to be interpreted thus: If resistance was met before Gordonsville, push through them and destroy the railroad, and then return. Gordonsville was the cake, while the James River was just the icing.
Hatch responded quickly, but moved cautiously. There were reports of a large body of troops on his left and of Stonewall Jackson at Charlottesville. By the 17th, Hatch was in Madison Court House, twenty miles north of Gordonsville. There, he heard rumors that part of Jackson’s troops (under General Richard Ewell) were in the town.
Part of Hatch’s turtlelike pace came from the baggage train and artillery that he was lugging around with him. The detachment of infantry didn’t help much, either. With word that Ewell was before him, Hatch did some strange things. First, he decided to move closer, gathering his force at Orange County Court House, ten miles up the line from Gordonsville. He then, however, sent his baggage, infantry and artillery back to Sperryville, thirty miles in the other direction. With his cavalry, he would scout out the rumors, and if Ewell was there, he would, according to his dispatch, send his baggage, artillery and infantry to Sperryville.
No, it didn’t really make any sense. Even General Nathaniel Banks, Hatch’s commander, admitted that “it does not distinctly appear what the plan is.” Later, Banks just figured that if Gordonsville wasn’t crowded with Rebels, Hatch would take it.
General Pope received this odd report on the 18th and replied on this date, two days after it was written. He was even more cranky than usual. “I was greatly surprised to learn from General Hatch’s dispatch,” wrote Pope to Banks, “that he had gone to execute the duty I assigned to him, with infantry, artillery, and a wagon train. I never dreamed of such a thing.”
Pope designed the operation to be a task specifically for the cavalry. He couldn’t fathom why Hatch would bring along infantry and artillery. “It has been a great mistake, and may possibly lead to serious consequences,” asserted Pope, believing that if Hatch would have moved quickly, “he would have found no enemy at Gordonsville, and from all accounts none at Charlottesville.”
Though Pope demanded an explanation, he appears to have given Hatch another chance, waiting through the culmination of the day to see what Hatch would bring.
B. Sunday, July 19, 1863: The Federal assault on Battery Wagner protecting Charleston, SC fails. By 3:40 a.m. in the morning, the second Union assault on Battery Wagner had failed. While the Union troops under George Strong--including the 54th Massachusetts--gained the parapet of the fort, a Confederate counterattack by troops ferried over to Morris Island for that purpose. P.G.T. Beauregard sent the following triumphant message: CHARLESTON, S. C., July 19, 1863 - 3.40 a. m. General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General: “After furious bombardment - eleven hours - from ships and shore, throwing many thousand shots and shells, enemy assaulted Battery Wagner desperately and repeatedly, beginning at dark. Our people fought worthily, and repulsed attacks with great slaughter. A number of prisoners captured. Our loss, relatively slight, includes, however, valuable lives. Brigadier-General Taliaferro commanded our side. Pickets now well in advance. God again with us. P.G. T. BEAUREGARD. Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. JNO. WITHERS, Assistant Adjutant-General.
C. Sunday, July 19, 1863: Battle of Buffington Island, Ohio. Federal Victory. While crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky at Buffington Island, John Hunt Morgan's raiders stumble onto a fortified position. Battle of Buffington Island, Ohio. On the foggy morning two Federal brigades under August Kautz and Henry M. Judah finally caught up with Morgan and attacked his position on the broad flood plain just north of Portland, nearly encircling the Confederates as another column under James M. Shackelford arrived on the scene. In the spirited early fighting, Maj. Daniel McCook, the 65-year-old patriarch of the famed Fighting McCooks, was mortally wounded. Nearly 3,000 Federals were soon engaged with Morgan's outnumbered and exhausted men. In addition, two Union gunboats, the U.S.S. Moose and the U.S.S. Allegheny Belle, steamed into the narrow channel separating Buffington Island from the flood plain and opened fire on Morgan's men, spraying them with shell fragments. Soon they were joined by a third gunboat.
Morgan, his way to the Buffington Island ford now totally blocked, left behind a small rear guard and tried to fight his way northward along the flood plain, hoping to reach yet another ford. It proved to be an exercise in futility, as Morgan's force was split apart by the converging Federal columns and 52 Confederates were killed, with well over one hundred badly wounded in the swirling fighting. Morgan and about 700 men escaped encirclement by following a narrow path through the woods. However, his brother-in-law and second-in-command, Col. Basil W. Duke, was captured, as were over 750 of Morgan's cavalrymen, including his younger brother John Morgan. Duke formally surrendered to Col. Isaac Garrard of the 7th Ohio Cavalry.
Morgan's beleaguered troops soon headed upstream for the unguarded ford opposite Belleville, West Virginia, where over 300 men successfully crossed the Ohio River to avoid capture, most notably Col. Adam "Stovepipe" Johnson and famed telegrapher George Ellsworth. General Morgan, who was halfway across the ford, noted with dismay that his remaining men were trapped on the Ohio side as the Federal gunboats suddenly loomed into view. He wheeled his horse midchannel and rejoined what was left of his column on the Ohio riverbank. Over the next few days, they failed to find a secure place to cross the river, and Morgan's remaining force was captured on June 26 in northern Ohio following the Battle of Salineville.
Many of those captured at Buffington Island were taken via steamboat to Cincinnati as prisoners of war, including most of the wounded. Morgan and most of his officers were confined to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Morgan, Thomas Hines, and a few others would later escape and return safely to Kentucky.
Federals manage to kill or wound 120 and capture 700 men and most of the rest return to Ohio to find an alternate crossing.
D. Tuesday, July 19, 1864: Atlanta campaign. Maj Gen Sherman’s three Federal armies were converging toward Atlanta, meeting such feeble resistance that he thought the enemy intended to evacuate the place. Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee was moving astride of the railroad, near Decatur; Schofield along a road leading toward Atlanta, by Colonel Howard’s house and the distillery; and Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland was crossing “Peach-Tree” in line of battle, building bridges for nearly every division as deployed. There was quite a gap between Thomas and Schofield, which I endeavored to close by drawing two of Howard’s divisions nearer Schofield.
The whole army will move on Atlanta by the most direct roads tomorrow, July 20, beginning at 5 a. m., as follows:
I. Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland from the direction of Buck Head, his left to connect with General Schofield’s right about two miles northeast of Atlanta, about lot 15, near the houses marked as Hu. and Col. Hoo.
II. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's Army of the Ohio, by the road leading from Doctor Powell's to Atlanta.
III. Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee will follow one or more roads direct from Decatur to Atlanta, following substantially the railroad.

1. Friday, July 19, 1861: McDowell realized that his men had not engaged the main part of the Confederate force while fighting at Blackburn’s Ford and that the bulk were now stationed at Bull Creek. McDowell knew that he had to do something if only because many of his troops (10,000) were on a three-month enlistment and their time was up within days. Under no circumstances could he take on the Confederates short of 10,000 men.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/
2. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Paris, Kentucky - On July 19, a group of Union troops entered Paris and discovered the command force of Col. John H. Morgan's Confederate raiders. The Federals drove the Confederates out of town.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
3. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Beaver Dam Station, Virginia - On July 19-20, a Federal expedition entered Beaver Dam Station. They quickly drove away the small Confederate militia guarding the area. For 2 days, they managed to destroy important Confederate military stores and the railroad station there.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
4. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Bedford’s cavalry reach Lebanon but find the Union cavalry was forewarned and has left for Nashville.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/20/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-16-22-1862/
5. Friday, July 19, 1861: Anatomy of a Blockader. The USS Flag was a 195 foot-long, 938-ton gunboat converted from a commercial steamer. Constructed as the SS Phineas Sprague, she was acquired by the U.S Navy on April 26, 1861 and commissioned on May 28, 1861 after being armed with a very respectable battery of six 8-inch guns. On July 19, 1861, her commanding officer L.C. Sartori wrote a report describing the new warship's capabilities, her strengths, and her weaknesses. “SIR: I feel it my duty to submit the following report for your consideration, requesting it may be communicated to the Department: “I left Philadelphia on the 29th of May, and have been under steam ever since, a period of fifty-three days, carrying, even while at anchor, about 6 pounds, being ready at any moment for a move. During this period I have been underway on an average about twelve hours out of every twenty-four, at a fair rate of speed a considerable portion of those twelve hours, and up to this time I have only consumed about 200 tons of coal, making an average of 3 7/8 tons every twenty-fours hours.
I have frequently gotten underway from 6 pounds of steam in five to eight minutes, never having to wait for steam, as it was always ready by the time the anchor was weighed, the boiler generating steam so true and fast.
The ship has fine speed, and, so far as I can judge, having as yet experienced no heavy weather, will prove herself a beautiful seaboat; her roll is extremely easy, carries her battery well, and does not feel the recoil more than the staunchest built ship of her class. She, however, requires a few things to render her still more efficient, and she is well worthy of the expense. In the first place she requires coppering, and at once, for the grass and barnacles are forming fast upon her. As she is copper-fastened she is already prepared for it, and her bottom would thus be preserved.
She requires about 20 tons of kentledge in her after hold, for I find she should be at least 3 feet 6 inches by the stern for speed and to bring out her superior qualities as a seaboat. I have tried all manner of ways to get this trim, but can not do so without the kentledge. She also requires an alteration in her bunkers, building them up through her between decks, which would aid in trimming the vessel and be a good security for the boilers, the drumhead of which is now entirely exposed to shot. This would cost but little. Also some contrivance might also be used to protect, in a great measure, the cylinder, which is much above the water line. By this alteration of her bunkers she could carry about 350 tons of coal, sufficient for nearly thirty-five days of full steaming, or eighty days of such steaming as I have just gone through.
I also require two good boats, not having a safe one to lower in a seaway; also some little alteration to her sails for heavy weather and a heavy anchor. All this would cost but little, and render her a highly useful and efficient vessel.
I could mount two more 8-inch guns in place of the 32-pounders, thus giving her a battery of eight 8-inch guns, and she could carry efficiently a 24-pounder rifled howitzer forward and aft with very little expense for mounting.
I would require fifteen men for the difference of the two guns and about fifteen additional for the rifled howitzers (of which six seamen and four ordinary seaman), making a total of 130 men independent of the engine room. My present complement of 100 is barely sufficient to do the work of the ship, and is subject to reduction by prize crews. Six are now absent by this cause. I therefore request the additional men, even if I do not get the rifled cannon. I have plenty of room to berth them, and can, if necessary, carry provisions for a year and tanks for 20,000 gallons of water. Some little repairs are needed to the machinery and a condenser placed for making fresh water for the use of the crew, at very small expense.
I feel called upon to make this report that you, as commander in chief of the squadron, may know the true qualities of this vessel, more particularly as she is a stranger to the service. And if the alterations and repairs are to be made, I would request her being sent to Philadelphia, as the naval constructor at that place is well informed as to her construction, etc. I will also mention that her propeller should be arranged so as to uncouple to be ready should anything happen to her machinery during her cruising this autumn and winter.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, L.C. SARTORI, Lieutenant, Commanding.”
Flag-Officer S. H. STRINGRAM,Comdg. Atlantic Blockading Squadron, U. S. Frigate Minnesota.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1861
6. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, in command of Lee’s cavalry, sends a young lieutenant on a special scouting mission at the young man’s own request. Thus begins the legend of the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy, John Singleton Mosby. Stuart writes a letter of introduction to Stonewall Jackson, whose troops are nearing the Federal positions: HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY BRIGADE, July 19, 1862. Major General T. J. JACKSON, Commanding Army of the Valley: ‘GENERAL: The bearer, John S. Mosby, late first lieutenant, First Virginia cavalry, is en route to scout beyond the enemy's lines toward Manassas and Fairfax. He is bold, daring, intelligent, and discreet. The information he may be obtain and transmit to you may be relied upon, and I have no doubt that he will soon give additional proofs of his value. Did you receive the volume of Napoleon and his Maxims I sent you through General Charles S. Winder's orderly? Most respectfully, your obedient servant, J. E. B. STUART, Brigadier-General, Commanding Cavalry.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1862
7. Saturday, July 19, 1862: Northern Virginia Campaign: CS General Jackson’s divisions arrive at Gordonsville, Virginia; Pope halts his forward movement.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/20/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-16-22-1862/
8. Sunday, July 19, 1863: Sunday, July 19, 1863 --- George Templeton Strong, who observed the riots as closely and personally as anyone could, offers this shocked assessment, and a surprisingly virulent tirade against the Irish: “Not half of this memorable week has been written. I could put down pages of incidents that the newspapers have omitted, any one of which in ordinary times be the town’s talk. Men and ladies attacked and plundered by daylight in the streets; private houses suddenly invaded by gangs of a dozen ruffians and sacked, while the women and children run off for their lives. Then there is the unspeakable infamy of the nigger persecution. They are the most peacable, sober, and inoffensive of our poor, and the outrages they have suffered during this last week are less excusable---are founded on worse pretext and less provocation---than St. Bartholomew’s or the Jew-hunting of the Middle Ages. This is a nice town to call itself a centre of civilization! Life and personal property less safe than in Tipperary, and the “people” (as the Herald calls them) burning orphan asylums and conducting a massacre. How this infernal slavery system has corrupted our blood, North as well as South! . . .
I am sorry to find that England is right about the lower class of Irish. They are brutal, base, cruel, cowards, and as insolent as base. Choate (at the Union League Club) tells me he heard this proposition put forth by one . . . with a knot of his brethren last Monday: “Sure and if them dam Dutch would jine us we’d drive the dam Yankees out of New York entirely!” These caitiffs have a trick, I hear, of posting themselves at the window of a tenement house with a musket, while a woman with a baby in her arms squats at their feet. Paddy fires on the police and instantly squats to reload, while Mrs. Paddy rises and looks out. Of course, one can’t fire at a window where there is a woman with a child!! But how is one to deal with women who assemble around the lamp-post to which a Negro had been hanged and cut off certain parts of his body to keep as souvenirs? Have they any womanly privilege, immunity, or sanctity?
No wonder St. Patrick drove all the venomous vermin out of Ireland! Its biped mammalia supply that island its full average share of creatures that crawl and eat dirt and poison every community they infest. Vipers were superfluous. But my own theory is that St. Patrick’s campaign against the snakes is a Popish delusion. They perished of biting the Irish people.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1863
9. Sunday, July 19, 1863 --- New York Draft Riots – The principal part of the crisis is apparently over, but New York is left in chaos and wholesale destruction. Over $1,500,000.00 worth of private property was destroyed. Conservative estimates place the deaths at over a thousand.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1863
10. Sunday, July 19, 1863: Daniel Harvey Hill replaces William Hardee in command of the Second Corps of the Army of Tennessee.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
11. Sunday, July 19, 1863: Morgan’s Great Raid. Buffington Island. CS General Morgan loses half his force when they attempt to cross the Ohio River.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/21/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-15-21-1863/
12. Sunday, July 19, 1863 --- This evening, Morgan and his subordinate, Col. “Stovepipe” Johnson, attend to swim their riders across the Ohio River into West Virginia. Stovepipe Johnson makes it with 300 men, but when Morgan and the remaining 750 try, the USS Moose under Fitch steams into view. Morgan goes back to the Ohio shore, and rides on north.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1863
13. Tuesday, July 19, 1864: Sherman spread out his army in an attempt to surround Atlanta. Three separate Union armies faced the defenders in Atlanta – the Armies of the Tennessee led by McPherson, Cumberland led by Thomas and Ohio led by Schofield. Hood determined that his best approach was to attack one and inflict overwhelming damage on it before moving on to the next. Hood resolved to attack the Army of the Cumberland.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/
14. Tuesday, July 19, 1864: Shenandoah Valley operations, Early’s raid: “Following two unsuccessful Union attacks on his flanks at Kabletown and Berry’s Ferry, General Early ordered a withdrawal from the Confederate position at Berryville towards a more secure position at Strasburg…” (Wikipedia)
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-14-20-1864/
15. Tuesday, July 19, 1864: Mississippi operations: Grant (in Virginia) to Sherman (in Georgia): Smith ought to be instructed to keep a close watch on Forrest and not permit him to gather strength and move into middle Tennessee.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-14-20-1864/

A Saturday, July 19, 1862 --- Gen. Stonewall Jackson and his 11,000 men arrive in Gordonsville, after a swift march, and thus place themselves athwart the intended invasion route of Gen. John Pope and his Federal forces. Gen. Hatch of the Union Cavalry approaches Gordonsville cautiously, with 3,000 troopers and a few infantry, having failed in his assignment to conduct a swift raid and take Gordonsville before the Rebels arrive. Pope demands answers, and Hatch’s corps commander Nathaniel Banks has no answers.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1862
Saturday, July 19, 1862: Gordonsville, Virginia. Stonewall Jackson’s 11,000 Confederate troops arrived in Gordonsville, securing the railroad link between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson had been pushing General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, to follow up the success before Richmond with a push towards the north – perhaps even an invasion of the north. While Lee couldn’t commit his entire force to such a venture, he once again gave Jackson an independent command, with orders to oppose the advance of the Federals at Culpeper Court House.
The Federals, commanded by General John Pope, were gathering twenty or so miles north of Culpeper, around Warrenton and Sperryville. Pope had ordered his cavalry, commanded by General John Hatch, with 3,000 troopers to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad at Gordonsville. If he met no resistance, he was to continue on to Charlottesville and the James River. Pope expected the order to be interpreted thus: If resistance was met before Gordonsville, push through them and destroy the railroad, and then return. Gordonsville was the cake, while the James River was just the icing.
Hatch responded quickly, but moved cautiously. There were reports of a large body of troops on his left and of Stonewall Jackson at Charlottesville. By the 17th, Hatch was in Madison Court House, twenty miles north of Gordonsville. There, he heard rumors that part of Jackson’s troops (under General Richard Ewell) were in the town.
Part of Hatch’s turtlelike pace came from the baggage train and artillery that he was lugging around with him. The detachment of infantry didn’t help much, either. With word that Ewell was before him, Hatch did some strange things. First, he decided to move closer, gathering his force at Orange County Court House, ten miles up the line from Gordonsville. He then, however, sent his baggage, infantry and artillery back to Sperryville, thirty miles in the other direction. With his cavalry, he would scout out the rumors, and if Ewell was there, he would, according to his dispatch, send his baggage, artillery and infantry to Sperryville.
No, it didn’t really make any sense. Even General Nathaniel Banks, Hatch’s commander, admitted that “it does not distinctly appear what the plan is.” Later, Banks just figured that if Gordonsville wasn’t crowded with Rebels, Hatch would take it.
General Pope received this odd report on the 18th and replied on this date, two days after it was written. He was even more cranky than usual. “I was greatly surprised to learn from General Hatch’s dispatch,” wrote Pope to Banks, “that he had gone to execute the duty I assigned to him, with infantry, artillery, and a wagon train. I never dreamed of such a thing.”
Pope designed the operation to be a task specifically for the cavalry. He couldn’t fathom why Hatch would bring along infantry and artillery. “It has been a great mistake, and may possibly lead to serious consequences,” asserted Pope, believing that if Hatch would have moved quickly, “he would have found no enemy at Gordonsville, and from all accounts none at Charlottesville.”
Though Pope demanded an explanation, he appears to have given Hatch another chance, waiting through the culmination of the day to see what Hatch would bring.
General Hatch started his day by doing nothing. He had heard more rumors (which were actually true) that Ewell was encamped between Gordonsville and Madison Court House. The reports told of a large force with quite a bit of artillery (which Hatch was now lacking). He would, however, stay in Madison, keeping an eye on Ewell.
Not long later, Hatch’s men encountered a Union spy who had just been in Richmond. The spy claimed that Ewell had 6,000 men and was waiting for Hatch to attack. Jackson, he said, was coming up and when united with Ewell, would have 30,000 under his command.
General Hatch then suggested a new plan, worded as if it wasn’t a retreat. He proposed that a new line be established at Sperryville (twenty miles north of Madison, and forty miles north of Ewell’s troops at Gordonsville). Pope, whose only objective was to cut the Virginia Central line, would not be thrilled with this new idea.
It wasn’t just Ewell’s Division that was in Gordonsville. Jackson’s entire command entered the town on this date. There, he was met by his friend and cartographer, Jedediah Hotchkiss. He saw that Jackson looked “the worse for his Chickahominey trip, and so do the troops.”
Pope could not know any of this, of course. Though reports had Jackson’s force at nearly three times its actual number – the same reports claimed that he wasn’t yet in Gordonsville. Tired of dealing with Hatch, Pope turned to General Rufus King, commanding a division under General Irvin McDowell, near Fredericksburg. King sent the brash Judson Kilpatrick (who had not yet earned the moniker “Kill Cavalry”) to see what he could do to the Virginia Central line.
Kilpatrick and the 2nd New York Cavalry left camp at 7pm and rode through the night. Their destination was Beaver Dam. Though it was thirty-five miles away from Gordonsville, cutting the line there would have the same effect as cutting the line anywhere else.
At the same time, a Confederate Captain named John Singleton Mosby was staying for the night at Beaver Dam. Mosby, an officer in General Jeb Stuart’s Rebel Cavalry, wanted to render service to his new country by raising a band of partisan rangers. He saw that General Pope’s Army of Virginia was situated at Warrenton with cavalry tentacles extended south. This was the perfect place for his type of work, which would send marauding bands of Rebels to the rear of Pope’s Army, causing the Federals to use their cavalry between their main body and Washington, rather than towards Jackson’s command at Gordonsville.
Stuart liked the plan, but could offer no troops as he was readying his force for action. Stuart sent Mosby to Jackson, who, Stuart assured him, would give Mosby the troops he needed. He traveled to Beaver Dam station “with a club-footed companion” who was except from military service. They stayed the night with a nearby farmer and planned to catch the morning train to Gordonsville.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/pope-frustrated-by-his-own-cavalry-jackson-gathers-his-troops/
B. Sunday, July 19, 1863: The assault on Battery Wagner fails. By 3:40 a.m. on the morning of July 19, 1863, the second Union assault on Battery Wagner had failed. While the Union troops under George Strong--including the 54th Massachusetts--gained the parapet of the fort, a Confederate counterattack by troops ferried over to Morris Island for that purpose. P.G.T. Beauregard sent the following triumphant message: CHARLESTON, S. C., July 19, 1863 - 3.40 a. m. General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General: “After furious bombardment - eleven hours - from ships and shore, throwing many thousand shots and shells, enemy assaulted Battery Wagner desperately and repeatedly, beginning at dark. Our people fought worthily, and repulsed attacks with great slaughter. A number of prisoners captured. Our loss, relatively slight, includes, however, valuable lives. Brigadier-General Taliaferro commanded our side. Pickets now well in advance. God again with us. P.G. T. BEAUREGARD. Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. JNO. WITHERS, Assistant Adjutant-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1863
C. Sunday, July 19, 1863: While crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky at Buffington Island, John Hunt Morgan's raiders stumble onto a fortified position. Federals manage to kill or wound 120 and capture 700 men and most of the rest return to Ohio to find an alternate crossing.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
C+ Sunday, July 19, 1863 --- Battle of Buffington Island, Ohio – Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s plan is to cross the Ohio into West Virginia, and then to cut across to Pennsylvania and join Lee there. It is a grandiose plan, and when Morgan discovers that Lee has already been beaten, he alters the plan, and attempts to cross at Pomeroy. There, on the 18th, he finds Federal troops and gunboats in the river, so the Rebel troopers head 20 miles east to Buffington Island. Facing him here are three U.S. Navy gunboats under Lt. Cmdr Leroy Fitch. Behind him are two columns of Federal cavalry under Judah and Hobson, who have the Rebels more or less bottled up in that bend of the Ohio River. Fitch begins the fight by shelling Morgan’s field artillery. Judah attacks, and is driven back, and then Hobson attacks, with some success. Soon, the Rebel line is formed into a right angle, each face to fend off the now-coordinated attack of both Judah and Hobson. Col. Basil Duke is in command of the 700 Rebels left, as Morgan and 1,100 of his remaining riders move swiftly up a riverside path. Duke and the rest try to cross the Ohio, but the naval gunboats rake the roads at the crossing with grape and canister. Basil Duke surrenders his 700 men, and Morgan escapes north. Thus ends the only Civil War battle fought in Ohio. Union Victory. The Federals lose 25 killed and a larger number wounded. The Rebels lose 52 killed, over 100 wounded, and 750 captures.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+19%2C+1863
C++ Sunday, July 19, 1863: Battle of Buffington Island, Ohio. On the foggy morning of July 19, two Federal brigades under August Kautz and Henry M. Judah finally caught up with Morgan and attacked his position on the broad flood plain just north of Portland, nearly encircling the Confederates as another column under James M. Shackelford arrived on the scene. In the spirited early fighting, Maj. Daniel McCook, the 65-year-old patriarch of the famed Fighting McCooks, was mortally wounded. Nearly 3,000 Federals were soon engaged with Morgan's outnumbered and exhausted men. In addition, two Union gunboats, the U.S.S. Moose and the U.S.S. Allegheny Belle, steamed into the narrow channel separating Buffington Island from the flood plain and opened fire on Morgan's men, spraying them with shell fragments. Soon they were joined by a third gunboat.
Morgan, his way to the Buffington Island ford now totally blocked, left behind a small rear guard and tried to fight his way northward along the flood plain, hoping to reach yet another ford. It proved to be an exercise in futility, as Morgan's force was split apart by the converging Federal columns and 52 Confederates were killed, with well over one hundred badly wounded in the swirling fighting. Morgan and about 700 men escaped encirclement by following a narrow path through the woods. However, his brother-in-law and second-in-command, Col. Basil W. Duke, was captured, as were over 750 of Morgan's cavalrymen, including his younger brother John Morgan. Duke formally surrendered to Col. Isaac Garrard of the 7th Ohio Cavalry.
Morgan's beleaguered troops soon headed upstream for the unguarded ford opposite Belleville, West Virginia, where over 300 men successfully crossed the Ohio River to avoid capture, most notably Col. Adam "Stovepipe" Johnson and famed telegrapher George Ellsworth. General Morgan, who was halfway across the ford, noted with dismay that his remaining men were trapped on the Ohio side as the Federal gunboats suddenly loomed into view. He wheeled his horse midchannel and rejoined what was left of his column on the Ohio riverbank. Over the next few days, they failed to find a secure place to cross the river, and Morgan's remaining force was captured on June 26 in northern Ohio following the Battle of Salineville.
Many of those captured at Buffington Island were taken via steamboat to Cincinnati as prisoners of war, including most of the wounded. Morgan and most of his officers were confined to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Morgan, Thomas Hines, and a few others would later escape and return safely to Kentucky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buffington_Island
D Tuesday, July 19, 1864: Georgia operations, Atlanta campaign. Per General Sherman: On the 19th the three armies were converging toward Atlanta, meeting such feeble resistance that I really thought the enemy intended to evacuate the place. McPherson was moving astride of the railroad, near Decatur; Schofield along a road leading toward Atlanta, by Colonel Howard’s house and the distillery; and Thomas was crossing “Peach-Tree” in line of battle, building bridges for nearly every division as deployed. There was quite a gap between Thomas and Schofield, which I endeavored to close by drawing two of Howard’s divisions nearer Schofield.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-14-20-1864/
FYI SPC Deb Root-WhiteLt Col Charlie Brown CWO2 John HeinzlGySgt Jack Wallace SPC Diana D. CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SR SPC Michael Terrell TSgt David L. CPL Ronald Keyes Jr PO1 John Johnson SPC (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SP5 Dave (Shotgun) Shockley SGT Paul Russo[~1757912"LTC Keith L Jackson] A1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugMSG Roy CheeverPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln

Good morning and thanks for sending in my morning read LTC Stephen F.

LTC Stephen F. Thanks for sharing Stephen! Sorry I'm so far behind!