Posted on Jun 11, 2016
LTC Stephen F.
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Civil War combat engagements between opposing forces are referred to as campaigns, battles, skirmishes, affairs, raids and sieges. For those who were killed I expect they would consider the place the were killed to be a battlefield. Now we call these periods of combat as battles, skirmishes, sieges and raids usually. The writers at the time tended to use colorful language for virtually everything at times.
First Blood at Big Bethel in 1861: A skirmish near the tip of Virginia’s Peninsula served as a harbinger of the four-year bloodbath to come. As Civil War battles go, the engagement at Big Bethel didn’t amount to much. Regardless, the fray between mostly amateur soldiers marked the first land battle of the conflict and sent a sobering message—that brave young men, lots of brave young men, were going to die in this war. And the campaign leading up to the fight also saw a small but significant development regarding the way Union troops handled runaway slaves.
Lieutenant John Trout Greble’s three-gun battery returned fire, but even though the shells whizzed through the main Confederate redoubt, none of the Southerners were injured. Young Lieutenant Greble died on the field, killed while commanding his guns. Greble had the dubious distinction of being the first Regular Army officer and West Point graduate to be killed during the conflict. Lt. Col. Gouverneur K. Warren, the only Union officer to maintain his composure, remained on the battlefield to collect the wounded and Lieutenant Greble’s body.
Naval guns versus confederate emplaced shore guns on the Mississippi River in 1862: Grand Gulf, Mississippi. The U.S.S. Wissahickon, under Commander John DeCamp, and U.S.S. Itasca, commanded by Lieutenant Caldwell, were traveling down the Mississippi River when they came upon a Confederate gun battery on shore. They were joined by gunboats U.S.S. Iroquois and Katahdin and the ships fired on the shore battery gun emplacements. A brief firefight occurred between the ships and the shore guns.
Confederate prisoners overtake prison ship crew off Cape Henry, Virginia and escape in 1863: off Cape Henry, Virginia - the Union steamer USS Maple Leaf was being used as a transport for Confederate prisoners. It was on its way from Fort Monroe to Fort Delaware.
Intel was critical to understanding what the enemy might be up to. Some sources were reliable while others deliberately provided misinformation. The early June of 1863 many reports indicated that CSA Gen Robert E. Lee was moving his Army of Northern Virginia into the Shenandoah Valley and moving northward towards Maryland and Pennsylvania. The last time the Army of Northern Virginia went north they were stopped at Antietam Creek in Maryland near Sharpsburg. Some Northern strategists recognized that Robert E. Lee wanted to take the war to the north so that the northern economy and populace would feel the pain of war which the south had endured for two years.
1863: Union scouts and escaped slaves have found a pattern of information: Gen. Pleasonton is convinced that two of CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s infantry corps are at Culpeper, which indicates movement. He passes this on to Maj Gen Joseph Hooker to persuade the commanding general that Lee is on the march. Indeed, Gen. Ewell’s II Corps makes a good 15 miles on the march today, toward the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley.
Formation of Mosby's Raiders in 1863: The 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was formed at Rector's Cross Roads, near Rectortown, Virginia, when John S. Mosby formed Company A of the battalion. Mosby was acting under the authority of General Robert E. Lee, who had granted him permission to raise a company in January 1863 under the Partisan Ranger Act of 1862, in which the Confederate Congress authorized the formation of such units. Noted for their lightning strikes on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines.
At the beginning of June 1864, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest set out with his cavalry corps of about 3,500 men to enter Middle Tennessee and destroy the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, which was carrying men and supplies to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in Georgia. Forrest’s small cavalry force defeated a much larger Federal column under Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis at Brice's Cross Roads. This brilliant tactical victory against long odds cemented Forrest’s reputation as one of the foremost mounted infantry leaders of the war.

Pictures: 1864-06-10 Battle-of-Brice-s-Crossroads Map; 1864-06-10 Brice’s Crossroads; 1864-06-10 Brice’s Crossroads simple map; 1862-06-10 USS Wissahickon Crewmembers

A. 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. Confederate Victory on the tip of the Virginia peninsula. Concerned by the increasing Confederate presence near Hampton, and with Confederate reinforcements at Big Bethel threatening land communications between Camp Butler and Fort Monroe, Benjamin F. Butler decided he must destroy the Confederate outpost at Big Bethel.
The Confederate shell fire was more effective than the Federal guns. Kilpatrick noted that “the enemy’s fire at this time began to fall on us with great effect. My men were falling one after another.” Kilpatrick’s company advanced against the skirmishers on the Confederate left. That advance was stopped by artillery fire, and the Zouaves fell back behind an orchard. Several New Yorkers took refuge in a blacksmith shop and began shooting into the earthworks. When CSA Colonel D.H. Hill wanted the shop burned, five volunteers dashed toward it with hatchets and lighting material, but deadly Union gunfire stopped them. Major Winthrop didn’t want to see his plan fail. He organized yet another assault on the Confederate left using his Vermont and Massachusetts troops. Winthrop got up on a log, waving his sword and shouting,” Come on boys; one charge and the day is ours!” But his bravery was his undoing: He was immediately killed. Winthrop’s loss demoralized his troops, which fell back across Brick Kiln Creek. That retreat, wrote Hill, “decided the action in our favor.”
B. 1862: Grand Gulf, Mississippi. The U.S.S. Wissahickon, under Commander John DeCamp, and U.S.S. Itasca, commanded by Lieutenant Caldwell, were traveling down the Mississippi River when they came upon a Confederate gun battery on shore. They were joined by gunboats U.S.S. Iroquois and Katahdin and the ships fired on the shore battery gun emplacements. A brief firefight occurred between the ships and the shore guns. The shelling lasted a short time and the ships withdrew.
C. 1863: Rector's Cross Roads, Virginia. Col. John S. Mosby and his 100 Confederate raiders had arrived in the woods south of Rector's Cross Roads. Mosby learned that a camp containing 2 companies of the 6th Michigan Cavalry at Seneca Mills, Maryland. Mosby decided to make an attack on the camp. The Union camp learned of the approach of Mosby's Confederate force and began preparations. When the Confederates came into view, the Federals opened fire on them. Mosby ordered a charge and the entire force rode forward. Though the Federals continued to fire on them, the Confederates managed to break into the camp and began hand-to-hand fighting. The Union ranks soon began to fall apart and they quickly fled the scene in a rout. In addition to the Union casualties, the Confederates captured 23 Union horses.
D. 1864: Battle of Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi. At the beginning of June 1864, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest set out with his cavalry corps of about 3,500 men to enter Middle Tennessee and destroy the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, which was carrying men and supplies to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in Georgia. Forrest’s small cavalry force defeated a much larger Federal column under Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis at Brice's Cross Roads. This brilliant tactical victory against long odds cemented Forrest’s reputation as one of the foremost mounted infantry leaders of the war.
At 9:45 a.m., a brigade of Grierson's Cavalry Division reached Brice's Crossroads. The battle started at 10:30 a.m. when the Confederates performed a stalling operation with a brigade of their own. Forrest ordered the rest of his cavalry to converge around the crossroads. The remainder of the Federal cavalry arrived in support, but at roughly 11 a.m., Forrest decided on a bold ploy. Moving forward against the larger force of Union cavalry and infantry, he arrayed his line in the shape a long crescent that overlapped Sturgis' flanks. This Confederate assault soon pushed the Federal forces back at 11:30 a.m., when the balance of Forrest's Cavalry Corps arrived on the scene. Grierson called for infantry support and Sturgis obliged. The Federal line, initially bolstered by the infantry, briefly seized the momentum and attacked the Confederate left flank, but Major-General Forrest launched an attack from his extreme right and left wings, before the rest of the Federal infantry could take the field. In this phase of the battle, Forrest commanded his field artillery to unlimber, unprotected, only yards from the Federal line, and to shred their troops with canister (Which in effect turns an artillery piece into a giant shotgun.) The massive damage caused Brigadier-General Sturgis to re-order his line in a tighter semicircle around Brice's Crossroads, facing east. The line held until 1:30 p.m. when the first regiments of U.S. infantry arrived.
At 3:30, Forrest's 2d Tennessee Cavalry assaulted the bridge across the Tishomingo. Although the attack failed, it caused severe confusion among U.S. troops, and Sturgis ordered a general retreat. With the Tennesseans still pressing, the retreat bottlenecked at the Tishomingo bridge and a panicked rout developed instead. Sturgis' forces fled wildly, pursued on their return to Memphis across six counties before the exhausted Confederate attackers retired.
The results were astounding. Forrest had driven an army twice the size of his own from the field, capturing 16 cannon and a quantity of supplies. With a loss of only 493 men, he inflicted an estimated 2,612 casualties on the Union army. During his struggle to retreat, Sturgis is said to have exclaimed, “For God’s sake, if Mr. Forrest will let me alone, I will let him alone!” General Sherman summed up the battle in his typically colorful style, “That Forrest is the very devil.”

FYI CWO4 Terrence Clark MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter PO3 Edward Riddle MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Byron Hewett CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw COL (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell COL Lisandro Murphy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL] MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Trent Klug CWO3 Dennis M. CPT Kevin McComas]SSgt David M.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
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LTC Stephen F. I am going to go with 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. Confederate Victory on the tip of the Virginia peninsula. Concerned by the increasing Confederate presence near Hampton, and with Confederate reinforcements at Big Bethel threaten.
Simply, because of its strategic logistical importance and the waterways.
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SSgt Robert Marx
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Thank-you for such insightful battle summaries. I am convinced that Americans with no or little interest in the Civil War have not read good historical summaries. Of course some people prefer more peaceful pursuits.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
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Tough call tonight, LTC Stephen F.. But I'm opting for Rector's Cross Roads and the birth of the legend of the Grey Ghost and the rise of Mosby's Confederacy.
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SGT Robert George
SGT Robert George
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I think im with you Maj. Bill Mosbys cavalry seem to hit hard and fast ...
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