What was the most significant event on June 10 during the U.S. Civil War?

LTC Stephen F. — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:01:42 -0400

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.”

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jun 11 at 2016 7:05 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:05:58 -0400

Below are a few journal entries from 1861 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Healthcare in Richmond reported on Tuesday, June 10, 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes some observations about Richmond transformed into a giant hospital: “The hospitals seem to be well tended by the ladies, and their ministrations are very edifying, self-sacrificing and beneficial; . . . No one in passing through the streets can fail to be struck with the number of women of all characters and conditions of life, who pass him bent on errands of mercy, each with some package, basket of provisions, bouquet of flower for the wounded soldier under her charge. Ladies drive through the streets with their carriages filled with luxuries; and poor woman, some perhaps needing nourishment themselves as much as those they wish to comport, pass by overburdened with trifles for the sick. In every building they can be seen carrying around food and water, making comfortable the beds and pillows, bending over the note, fan in hand, talking to the patient the while in a cheerful, kindly tone. And the result of this is, the wounded bear their sufferings patiently, remaining quietly in their beds while nature is doing its work, the spirits of the men are kept buoyant, and the mind freed from gloomy care and doubt. The good affects of careful nursing is also seen in the small percentage of deaths resulting from various wounds. The ladies of Richmond are engaged in a most noble work, and many a southern wife and mother will bless them for their present labors.”
Inflated descriptions by a Federal private with a grain of truth in 1863 --- Stephen Minot Weld, of the Army of the Potomac, writes home and gives a rather inflated version of the Battle of Brandy Station: “Yesterday our cavalry had a real hand-to-hand fight with the rebels near Kelly’s Ford. Our men behaved splendidly, and drove the rebels 5 miles. We captured all Stuart’s private papers, and found that he was to have started this morning, with 25 guns and 12,000 cavalry troopers, to make his raid into Pennsylvania.”
Big Bethel Virginia 1861: “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. He anticipated that such an action might even open the door for an advance against Richmond. Major Theodore Winthrop, Butler’s military secretary, devised a rather complex plan to dispatch troops from Camp Butler, Camp Hamilton and Fort Monroe to converge on Big Bethel at dawn on June 10. Winthrop believed a night march would give the Union force the element of surprise and ensure victory.
The Union soldiers were issued white armbands to help avoid any confusion when the units joined up near Bethel in the darkness. They were also given the password “Boston,” to use whenever unrecognized troops approached each other during the march.
Brigadier General Ebenezer W. Pierce commanded the 4,400-man operation. Duryea’s Zouaves led, starting from Camp Hamilton at midnight to intersect the Confederate positions between Little and Big Bethel. Captain Judson Kilpatrick took two companies of Zouaves in advance. Colonel Duryea followed with the rest of his command. One hour later, Colonel Frank Townsend’s 3rd New York Volunteers crossed the Hampton River in scows with two howitzers, then marched toward Little Bethel.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Peter T. Washburn organized a force of volunteers from the 1st Vermont and 4th Massachusetts. Washburn’s command was supposed to start its march from Camp Butler on Newport News Point, followed by Colonel John E. Bendix’s 7th New York. The plan dictated that Bendix and Townsend would join up near Little Bethel, then march on the Confederate position there while Washburn’s command made a demonstration in front of Little Bethel.
Kilpatrick’s Zouaves arrived at Little Bethel at dawn on the 10th and captured three Confederate pickets. They were ready to continue their advance when the Federal plans unraveled due to a tragic mishap. As the 3rd New York approached the 7th New York in darkness, Bendix’s men, alerted by the sound of horses and unable to see the white armbands of the oncoming troops, fired into the 3rd’s ranks before Townsend’s troops could identify themselves, resulting in 18 casualties, the war’s first friendly fire incident.
The Confederates were also on the move in the darkness. The 1st North Carolina marched toward Little Bethel to interrupt any Union force moving across Newmarket Creek (the southwest branch of the Back River). Then at 3 a.m. a local woman, Hannah Tunnel, alerted Magruder about the Federal movements. The friendly fire mishap confirmed what she told Magruder and Hill, and Magruder prudently decided that he would fall back on Big Bethel to make a stand behind the earthworks.
Pierce, meanwhile, learned from a free black that the Southerners had 4,000 troops at Big Bethel. Captain Kilpatrick and Lt. Col. Gouverneur K. Warren of the 5th New York had both scouted the Confederate position. Although Kilpatrick confirmed reports that the Confederates had more than 4,000 men at Big Bethel, Warren disagreed. He thought the Confederate left could be turned, pointing out that the forward battery on the south side of Brick Kiln Creek was one of the “commanding eminences” and should be captured. Pierce ordered the attack to go forward despite losing the element of surprise. As the Union force marched toward Big Bethel, Pierce ordered the Little Bethel Chapel burned.
Hill had deployed his forces to resist the expected attack. Men of the 15th Virginia, along with one howitzer, manned the redoubt on the southern side of Brick Kiln Creek. Sharpshooters from the 1st North Carolina were posted along the edge of the woods along the Hampton-York Highway. On the northern side of Brick Kiln Creek, the Richmond Howitzers were positioned in the main redoubt, guarding the bridge with three guns; Major Montague’s companies and elements of the 1st North Carolina held the flanks and rear of the redoubt.
Confederate shells rained down on the Yankee troops as they left the cover of some woods and charged across an open field toward the redoubt. 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.
Hill stood in the open, calmly smoking a pipe during the hour-long artillery exchange, telling his men, “Boys, you have learned to dodge already.” The Mexican War veteran added, “I am an old hand at it”—then leaned away from a shell that flew past him and shook his finger at the Federals, yelling, “You missed me this time!”
The Confederate shell fire was more effective. 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.
Pierce tried to keep up the Federal drive, and attacked the forward Confederate redoubt with the 5th New York and 7th New York while the 3rd New York moved to envelop the Confederate right. The 15th Virginia abandoned its position when a priming wire broke in the vent of its howitzer. Colonel Duryea and his 5th New York pressed the Confederates, but the 15th Virginia blocked a move by the Zouaves to cross an old ford downstream.
Colonel Townsend’s 3rd New York’s critical assault on the Confederate right faltered when he noticed bayonets reflecting in the sun through the woods. Thinking that his troops were about to be flanked by a Confederate force, Townsend ordered a withdrawal. This left the Zouaves isolated in the Confederate redoubt. Under pressure from a counterattack by elements from the 15th Virginia, the Wythe Rifles and the 1st North Carolina, they retreated.
Several New Yorkers took refuge in a blacksmith shop and began shooting into the earthworks. When 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.”
Young Lieutenant Greble also 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.
Soon the entire Union force was in disorganized flight. The Federals didn’t feel safe until they crossed Newmarket Bridge. Colonel Warren, the only Union officer to maintain his composure, remained on the battlefield to collect the wounded and Lieutenant Greble’s body.”
Pictures: 1862 Map of Rebel Fortification Grand Gulf Mississippi; 1863-06-10 Battle of Rector's Cross Roads, Virginia sign; 1861-06-10 Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia Map; USS Maple Leaf prisoner transport
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Monday, June 10, 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. He anticipated that such an action might even open the door for an advance against Richmond. Major Theodore Winthrop, Butler’s military secretary, devised a rather complex plan to dispatch troops from Camp Butler, Camp Hamilton and Fort Monroe to converge on Big Bethel at dawn on June 10. Winthrop believed a night march would give the Union force the element of surprise and ensure victory.
The Union soldiers were issued white armbands to help avoid any confusion when the units joined up near Bethel in the darkness. They were also given the password “Boston,” to use whenever unrecognized troops approached each other during the march.
Brigadier General Ebenezer W. Pierce commanded the 4,400-man operation. Duryea’s Zouaves led, starting from Camp Hamilton at midnight to intersect the Confederate positions between Little and Big Bethel. Captain Judson Kilpatrick took two companies of Zouaves in advance. Colonel Duryea followed with the rest of his command. One hour later, Colonel Frank Townsend’s 3rd New York Volunteers crossed the Hampton River in scows with two howitzers, then marched toward Little Bethel.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Peter T. Washburn organized a force of volunteers from the 1st Vermont and 4th Massachusetts. Washburn’s command was supposed to start its march from Camp Butler on Newport News Point, followed by Colonel John E. Bendix’s 7th New York. The plan dictated that Bendix and Townsend would join up near Little Bethel, then march on the Confederate position there while Washburn’s command made a demonstration in front of Little Bethel.
Kilpatrick’s Zouaves arrived at Little Bethel at dawn on the 10th and captured three Confederate pickets. They were ready to continue their advance when the Federal plans unraveled due to a tragic mishap. As the 3rd New York approached the 7th New York in darkness, Bendix’s men, alerted by the sound of horses and unable to see the white armbands of the oncoming troops, fired into the 3rd’s ranks before Townsend’s troops could identify themselves, resulting in 18 casualties, the war’s first friendly fire incident.
The Confederates were also on the move in the darkness. The 1st North Carolina marched toward Little Bethel to interrupt any Union force moving across Newmarket Creek (the southwest branch of the Back River). Then at 3 a.m. a local woman, Hannah Tunnel, alerted Magruder about the Federal movements. The friendly fire mishap confirmed what she told Magruder and Hill, and Magruder prudently decided that he would fall back on Big Bethel to make a stand behind the earthworks.
Pierce, meanwhile, learned from a free black that the Southerners had 4,000 troops at Big Bethel. Captain Kilpatrick and Lt. Col. Gouverneur K. Warren of the 5th New York had both scouted the Confederate position. Although Kilpatrick confirmed reports that the Confederates had more than 4,000 men at Big Bethel, Warren disagreed. He thought the Confederate left could be turned, pointing out that the forward battery on the south side of Brick Kiln Creek was one of the “commanding eminences” and should be captured. Pierce ordered the attack to go forward despite losing the element of surprise. As the Union force marched toward Big Bethel, Pierce ordered the Little Bethel Chapel burned.
Hill had deployed his forces to resist the expected attack. Men of the 15th Virginia, along with one howitzer, manned the redoubt on the southern side of Brick Kiln Creek. Sharpshooters from the 1st North Carolina were posted along the edge of the woods along the Hampton-York Highway. On the northern side of Brick Kiln Creek, the Richmond Howitzers were positioned in the main redoubt, guarding the bridge with three guns; Major Montague’s companies and elements of the 1st North Carolina held the flanks and rear of the redoubt.
Confederate shells rained down on the Yankee troops as they left the cover of some woods and charged across an open field toward the redoubt. 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.
Hill stood in the open, calmly smoking a pipe during the hour-long artillery exchange, telling his men, “Boys, you have learned to dodge already.” The Mexican War veteran added, “I am an old hand at it”—then leaned away from a shell that flew past him and shook his finger at the Federals, yelling, “You missed me this time!”
The Confederate shell fire was more effective. 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.
Pierce tried to keep up the Federal drive, and attacked the forward Confederate redoubt with the 5th New York and 7th New York while the 3rd New York moved to envelop the Confederate right. The 15th Virginia abandoned its position when a priming wire broke in the vent of its howitzer. Colonel Duryea and his 5th New York pressed the Confederates, but the 15th Virginia blocked a move by the Zouaves to cross an old ford downstream.
Colonel Townsend’s 3rd New York’s critical assault on the Confederate right faltered when he noticed bayonets reflecting in the sun through the woods. Thinking that his troops were about to be flanked by a Confederate force, Townsend ordered a withdrawal. This left the Zouaves isolated in the Confederate redoubt. Under pressure from a counterattack by elements from the 15th Virginia, the Wythe Rifles and the 1st North Carolina, they retreated.
Several New Yorkers took refuge in a blacksmith shop and began shooting into the earthworks. When 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.”
Young Lieutenant Greble also 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.
Soon the entire Union force was in disorganized flight. The Federals didn’t feel safe until they crossed Newmarket Bridge. Colonel Warren, the only Union officer to maintain his composure, remained on the battlefield to collect the wounded and Lieutenant Greble’s body.
Background. The situation began to develop in May 1861, when U.S. Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott sent Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler to assume command of the newly created Department of Virginia based at Fort Monroe. Situated on the very tip of the Virginia Peninsula, the fort provided the Federals an important strategic toehold in Confederate territory that the Union Navy could easily resupply via the Chesapeake Bay.
Butler, a lawyer and prewar Democratic politician from Massachusetts, had achieved fame early in the war when he thwarted the secessionist movement in Maryland and helped secure the safety of Washington, D.C. Although he initially protested his assignment on the Peninsula, Butler soon recognized that his new command would bring new opportunities to further his political ambitions.
Butler arrived at Fort Monroe on May 18 and quickly mounted a demonstration of Federal power. On May 23, he ordered Colonel J. Wolcott Phelps’ 1st Vermont Infantry “to reconnoiter” the town of Hampton. During the town’s brief occupation by Union troops, three slaves escaped and took refuge at Fort Monroe. President Abraham Lincoln had ordered his generals to observe the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and return runaways to their owners, but Butler, an abolitionist, slyly proclaimed the runaways “Contraband of War.”
By defining escaped slaves as such, Butler justified keeping them within Union lines, since he claimed they were helping the Rebel war effort. His action was one small step on the road to emancipation. This process helped propel the official goals of the Lincoln administration from not only saving the Union but also ending slavery. “Contraband” quickly became a euphemism for runaway slaves who sought shelter within Yankee lines.
Butler’s main goal was to advance against the poorly organized Confederates on the Peninsula. He occupied Newport News Point on May 27 and built a fortified camp dubbed Camp Butler. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Provisional Army of Virginia, became alarmed at the rapid expansion of Union power, and sent Colonel John B. Magruder to Yorktown to organize Confederate defenses.
Magruder, a hero of the Mexican War, was also a bon vivant who had earned the nickname “Prince John” for his fancy dress and courtly manners. He decided to build his primary line of defense from Mulberry Island on the James River and follow the Warwick River to Yorktown on the York River. He needed time and men, however, to prepare his defensive line against any concerted Union advance. Cavalry commanded by 1st Lt. John Bell Hood and Colonel D.H. Hill’s 1st North Carolina Volunteers reinforced Magruder in late May. Magruder selected the small crossroads of Big Bethel Church as the spot where he would provoke Butler into an attack. It was situated on the Hampton-York Highway, at a bend in the northwestern branch, known as Brick Kiln Creek, of the Back River.
On June 6, 1861, Magruder ordered Major Edgar B. Montague to establish an advanced position at Big Bethel Church with three companies of Virginia volunteers. Hill’s 1st North Carolina reinforced Bethel the next day. Major George Wythe Randolph’s Richmond Howitzers and Lt. Col. W.D. Stuart’s command of four companies of the 15th Virginia Infantry arrived on June 8.
Hill was not pleased when he received orders to occupy Big Bethel. Convinced that he outranked Magruder, he wrote his wife: “Colonel Magruder in command is always drunk and giving foolish and absurd orders. I think that in a few days the men will refuse to obey any order issued by him.” Recognizing Hill’s dissatisfaction, Magruder wrote Richmond: “I think I rank him, but am of the impression that it is the subject of some feeling on his part. He has, however, obeyed my orders so far, and I presume will continue to do so.”
Hill took command of the 1,458 Confederate troops at Big Bethel and established a forward position three miles away at Little Bethel, fortified with a series of entrenchments. Magruder was hopeful of defeating the enemy if he could incite the Northerners to fight, but he also wanted to give himself time to improve the Williamsburg, Yorktown and Warwick River defenses.
Hill’s men constructed earthworks on a slight hill that commanded the Confederate position across Brick Kiln Creek on his right flank. The works were protected by the creek and a marsh, and also reinforced with a howitzer. On the north of Brick Kiln Creek Hill’s troops constructed fortifications that commanded the bridge and encircled the road to defend the position’s flanks. Three artillery pieces were positioned to control access to the bridge. Outside the main redoubt was a rifled howitzer, situated to enable the Southerners to guard a downriver ford.
Butler, who had received additional reinforcements, began probing the surrounding countryside to thwart Confederate activity. On June 4, elements of the 5th New York, Abram Duryea’s Zouaves, marched to the village of Fox Hill and then returned to Fort Monroe—prompting the Confederates to burn Howard’s Bridge on the Hampton-York Road to protect their left flank. On the 7th and again on the 9th, Federal scouting units clashed with Confederates near Newmarket Bridge.
Aftermath. Big Bethel was a complete failure for the Union, whereas Rebel Colonel Hill noted that his men “seemed to enjoy it as much as boys do rabbit-shooting.” North Carolinian B.M. Hord remembered: “a regiment would come up, fire a volley or two, mostly over our heads and precipitately fall back. It seemed their principal object was to get a sight or shot at a Rebel, then fall back as quickly as possible.”
The Federals lost a total of 76 men: 18 killed, 53 wounded and five missing. Butler became a scapegoat for Union ineptitude, blamed for acting on poor intelligence and remaining at Fort Monroe during the fight. But Pierce received most of the criticism for the Union disaster.
The New York Times noted that Pierce “lost his presence of mind” during the engagement. Labeled incompetent, he was mustered out of the Army after his 90-day enlistment. The Northern press tried to salvage some honor out of the defeat. The Union troops were described as courageous, as they had “fought both friend and foe alike with equal resolution and only retired after exhausting their ammunition in face of a powerful enemy.”
Winthrop and Greble were lionized for their valor and sacrifice. According to D.H. Hill, Winthrop was the “only one of the enemy who exhibited an approximation of courage that day.” Urged by Butler to “Be Bold! Be Bold! But not too bold,” he almost won the day. The Atlantic Monthly ran several articles about his service that posthumously earned Winthrop even greater fame.
Southerners rejoiced over the Big Bethel victory, the more so since Confederate casualties were only one killed, seven wounded and three missing. The dead soldier, Private Henry Lawson Wyatt of Company B, 1st North Carolina, achieved martyrdom, as he had been killed by a shot through the forehead during a volunteer mission to “burn a house between the lines.” He was the first Confederate infantryman to die in battle.
Magruder himself would receive most of the glory for the win at Big Bethel. Jefferson Davis declared the battle a “glorious victory,” while Robert E. Lee took pleasure in expressing his “gratification at the gallant conduct of the troops under your command and approbation of dispositions made by you, resulting as they did, in the route of the enemy.” Magruder was promoted to brigadier general exactly one week after the battle.
The war went on. Major General George B. McClellan led a Union drive on Richmond in 1862 that caused Robert E. Lee to leave his desk job in order to push back the Union host. Magruder’s poor conduct during that fighting would get him shuttled off to Texas, and huge casualty lists soon pushed the names of Greble, Winthrop, Wyatt and Big Bethel from the public’s memory.
B. Tuesday, June 10, 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. Wednesday, June 10, 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. Friday, June 10, 1864: Battle of Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi. CSA Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s small cavalry force defeated a much larger Federal column under Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis at Brice's Crossroads.
Well aware of the danger should CSA Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men get loose behind him, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman developed a plan to divert and, hopefully, destroy the Confederate general. Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis was ordered to march from Memphis down into Mississippi for the sole purpose of finding and fighting Forrest.
Sturgis and his 8,100-man army crossed the line into Mississippi just in the nick of time. Forrest was already at Russellville, Alabama. The news that a Union army was advancing into Mississippi left him with no choice but to turn back.
Forrest assembled his small army of 3,500 men along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad just east of Brice’s Cross Roads. Even though he was outnumbered by a margin of two to one, the Confederate general moved forward to meet Sturgis on the morning of June 10, 1864.
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.”

1. Monday, June 10, 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186106
2. Tuesday, June 10, 1862: General Henry Halleck assigns Ulysses S. Grant, Don Carlos Buell, and John Pope to corps commanders
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186206
3. Tuesday, June 10, 1862: James Island, South Carolina - On June 10, a Union force arrived at the Thomas Grimball's plantation. The plantation was on the west side of the island. The Federals were able to drive away the Confederates.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
4. Tuesday, June 10, 1862 --- At James Island, near Charleston, Gen. David Hunter lands Federal troops from his base at Port Royal, and they engage in a heavy skirmish with Confederates under Gen. John C. Pemberton and begin an escalating contest of maneuver in the swampy approaches to Charleston over the coming months. As Gen. Hunter leaves to return to Hilton Head, he leaves orders for the two divisions remaining not to attack Charleston without further instructions.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1862
5. Tuesday, June 10, 1862 --- The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes some observations about Richmond transformed into a giant hospital: “The hospitals seem to be well tended by the ladies, and their ministrations are very edifying, self-sacrificing and beneficial; . . . No one in passing through the streets can fail to be struck with the number of women of all characters and conditions of life, who pass him bent on errands of mercy, each with some package, basket of provisions, bouquet of flower for the wounded soldier under her charge. Ladies drive through the streets with their carriages filled with luxuries; and poor woman, some perhaps needing nourishment themselves as much as those they wish to comport, pass by overburdened with trifles for the sick. In every building they can be seen carrying around food and water, making comfortable the beds and pillows, bending over the note, fan in hand, talking to the patient the while in a cheerful, kindly tone. And the result of this is, the wounded bear their sufferings patiently, remaining quietly in their beds while nature is doing its work, the spirits of the men are kept buoyant, and the mind freed from gloomy care and doubt. The good affects of careful nursing is also seen in the small percentage of deaths resulting from various wounds. The ladies of Richmond are engaged in a most noble work, and many a southern wife and mother will bless them for their present labors.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1862
6. Tuesday, June 10, 1862 --- Gen. Beauregard concentrates his army at Tupelo, Mississippi, preparing for the next campaign, watching to see what the Yankees do.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1862
7. Tuesday, June 10, 1862 --- Shenandoah Valley – Orders arrive to Gen. Fremont to withdraw his forces, after Fremont retires to Harrisonburg. Gen. Shields, whose division is worn down from defeat and a long march with few supplies, is also ordered to withdraw, the thinking in Washington being that both forces are over-extended, far from bases of supply, and isolated. One third of Shields’ command is without shoes, since marching in the rain over the previous weeks has rotted the men’s leather footwear. (McDowell has finally been given orders to move east to reinforce McClellan at last, but he does not fully realize that much of his corps will need re-fitting first.)
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1862
8. Wednesday, June 10, 1863: off Cape Henry, Virginia - On June 10, 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. On this day, the prisoners organized an escape plan. They grouped together and overtook the Maple Leaf's crew. The ship was purposely run aground off Cape Henry, and the prisoners ran off the ship and escaped.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
9. Wednesday, June 10, 1863 --- Gen. Hooker writes to Lincoln, suggesting that if Lee is indeed moving north, then the way to Richmond is open. He asks the President to consider his plan. Lincoln’s answer returns right away: From Washington, to Major-General Hooker at 6:40 p. m. “Your long dispatch of today is just received. If left to me, I would not go south of Rappahannock upon Lee's moving north of it. If you had Richmond invested today, you would not be able to take in it twenty days; meanwhile your communications, and with them your army, would be ruined. I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your sure objective point. If he comes toward the Upper Potomac. follow on his flank and on his inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens his. Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, fret him and fret and fret him. A. Lincoln”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1863
10. Friday, June 10, 1864: Lexington, Kentucky - On June 10, Brig. Gen. David Hunter and his Union force were headed to the town of Lexington. The briefly skirmished with some local forces and entered Lexington. Once inside, they proceeded to burn all of the Virginia Military Institute buildings.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
11. Wednesday, June 10, 1863 --- Union scouts and escaped slaves have found a pattern of information: Gen. Pleasonton is convinced that two of Lee’s infantry corps are at Culpeper, which indicates movement. He passes this on to 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.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1863
12. Wednesday, June 10, 1863 --- Stephen Minot Weld, of the Army of the Potomac, writes home and gives a rather inflated version of the Battle of Brandy Station: “Yesterday our cavalry had a real hand-to-hand fight with the rebels near Kelly’s Ford. Our men behaved splendidly, and drove the rebels 5 miles. We captured all Stuart’s private papers, and found that he was to have started this morning, with 25 guns and 12,000 cavalry, to make his raid into Pennsylvania.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1863
13. Wednesday, June 10, 1863 --- The Democrat Party of Ohio nominates the still-exiled Clement Vallandigham for Governor of Ohio.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1863
14. Friday, June 10, 1864: Battle of Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi [US]
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186406
15. Saturday, June 10, 1865: President Johnson appoints William Starkey as provisional governor of Mississippi.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186506
16.

A Monday, June 10, 1861 --- Battle of Big Bethel: At the tip of the James peninsula in Virginia, a few miles from Union-held Ft. Monroe, Union troops under Gen. Butler advance to test the Rebel lines near Newport News under Gen. "Prince" John Magruder, who is outnumbered 2 to 1. A poorly planned attack results in a Union rout and retreat, as they lose 18 killed and 53 wounded. The Southerners lose only 1 killed and 6 wounded.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+10%2C+1861
A+ Monday, June 10, 1861: Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia Generals / Commanders
Union: Benjamin F. Butler
Confederate: John B. Magruder
Soldiers Engaged
Union Army: 3,500
Confederate Army: 1,400
Outcome: Confederate Victory
Casualties
Union: 60; Confederate: 8
First Blood at Big Bethel:
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 on June 10, 1861, didn’t amount to much. Had it occurred later in the conflict, it would have hardly merited any mention in the newspapers. 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.
The situation began to develop in May 1861, when U.S. Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott sent Maj.Gen. Benjamin F. Butler to assume command of the newly created Department of Virginia based at Fort Monroe. Situated on the very tip of the Virginia Peninsula, the fort provided the Federals an important strategic toehold in Confederate territory that the Union Navy could easily resupply via the Chesapeake Bay.
Butler, a lawyer and prewar Democratic politician from Massachusetts, had achieved fame early in the war when he thwarted the secessionist movement in Maryland and helped secure the safety of Washington, D.C. Although he initially protested his assignment on the Peninsula, Butler soon recognized that his new command would bring new opportunities to further his political ambitions.
Butler arrived at Fort Monroe on May 18 and quickly mounted a demonstration of Federal power. On May 23, he ordered Colonel J. Wolcott Phelps’ 1st Vermont Infantry “to reconnoiter” the town of Hampton. During the town’s brief occupation by Union troops, three slaves escaped and took refuge at Fort Monroe. President Abraham Lincoln had ordered his generals to observe the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and return runaways to their owners, but Butler, an abolitionist, slyly proclaimed the runaways “Contraband of War.”
By defining escaped slaves as such, Butler justified keeping them within Union lines, since he claimed they were helping the Rebel war effort. His action was one small step on the road to emancipation. This process helped propel the official goals of the Lincoln administration from not only saving the Union but also ending slavery. “Contraband” quickly became a euphemism for runaway slaves who sought shelter within Yankee lines.
Butler’s main goal was to advance against the poorly organized Confederates on the Peninsula. He occupied Newport News Point on May 27 and built a fortified camp dubbed Camp Butler. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Provisional Army of Virginia, became alarmed at the rapid expansion of Union power, and sent Colonel John B. Magruder to Yorktown to organize Confederate defenses.
Magruder, a hero of the Mexican War, was also a bon vivant who had earned the nickname “Prince John” for his fancy dress and courtly manners. He decided to build his primary line of defense from Mulberry Island on the James River and follow the Warwick River to Yorktown on the York River. He needed time and men, however, to prepare his defensive line against any concerted Union advance. Cavalry commanded by 1st Lt. John Bell Hood and Colonel D.H. Hill’s 1st North Carolina Volunteers reinforced Magruder in late May. Magruder selected the small crossroads of Big Bethel Church as the spot where he would provoke Butler into an attack. It was situated on the Hampton-York Highway, at a bend in the northwestern branch, known as Brick Kiln Creek, of the Back River.
On June 6, 1861, Magruder ordered Major Edgar B. Montague to establish an advanced position at Big Bethel Church with three companies of Virginia volunteers. Hill’s 1st North Carolina reinforced Bethel the next day. Major George Wythe Randolph’s Richmond Howitzers and Lt. Col. W.D. Stuart’s command of four companies of the 15th Virginia Infantry arrived on June 8.
Hill was not pleased when he received orders to occupy Big Bethel. Convinced that he outranked Magruder, he wrote his wife: “Colonel Magruder in command is always drunk and giving foolish and absurd orders. I think that in a few days the men will refuse to obey any order issued by him.” Recognizing Hill’s dissatisfaction, Magruder wrote Richmond: “I think I rank him, but am of the impression that it is the subject of some feeling on his part. He has, however, obeyed my orders so far, and I presume will continue to do so.”
Hill took command of the 1,458 Confederate troops at Big Bethel and established a forward position three miles away at Little Bethel, fortified with a series of entrenchments. Magruder was hopeful of defeating the enemy if he could incite the Northerners to fight, but he also wanted to give himself time to improve the Williamsburg, Yorktown and Warwick River defenses.
Hill’s men constructed earthworks on a slight hill that commanded the Confederate position across Brick Kiln Creek on his right flank. The works were protected by the creek and a marsh, and also reinforced with a howitzer. On the north of Brick Kiln Creek Hill’s troops constructed fortifications that commanded the bridge and encircled the road to defend the position’s flanks. Three artillery pieces were positioned to control access to the bridge. Outside the main redoubt was a rifled howitzer, situated to enable the Southerners to guard a downriver ford.
Butler, who had received additional reinforcements, began probing the surrounding countryside to thwart Confederate activity. On June 4, elements of the 5th New York, Abram Duryea’s Zouaves, marched to the village of Fox Hill and then returned to Fort Monroe—prompting the Confederates to burn Howard’s Bridge on the Hampton-York Road to protect their left flank. On the 7th and again on the 9th, Federal scouting units clashed with Confederates near Newmarket Bridge.
Concerned by the increasing Confederate presence near Hampton, and with Confederate reinforcements at Big Bethel threatening land communications between Camp Butler and Fort Monroe, Butler decided he must destroy the Confederate outpost at Big Bethel. He anticipated that such an action might even open the door for an advance against Richmond. Major Theodore Winthrop, Butler’s military secretary, devised a rather complex plan to dispatch troops from Camp Butler, Camp Hamilton and Fort Monroe to converge on Big Bethel at dawn on June 10. Winthrop believed a night march would give the Union force the element of surprise and ensure victory.
The Union soldiers were issued white armbands to help avoid any confusion when the units joined up near Bethel in the darkness. They were also given the password “Boston,” to use whenever unrecognized troops approached each other during the march.
Brigadier General Ebenezer W. Pierce commanded the 4,400-man operation. Duryea’s Zouaves led, starting from Camp Hamilton at midnight to intersect the Confederate positions between Little and Big Bethel. Captain Judson Kilpatrick took two companies of Zouaves in advance. Colonel Duryea followed with the rest of his command. One hour later Colonel Frank Townsend’s 3rd New York Volunteers crossed the Hampton River in scows with two howitzers, then marched toward Little Bethel.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Peter T. Washburn organized a force of volunteers from the 1st Vermont and 4th Massachusetts. Washburn’s command was supposed to start its march from Camp Butler on Newport News Point, followed by Colonel John E. Bendix’s 7th New York. The plan dictated that Bendix and Townsend would join up near Little Bethel, then march on the Confederate position there while Washburn’s command made a demonstration in front of Little Bethel.
Kilpatrick’s Zouaves arrived at Little Bethel at dawn on the 10th and captured three Confederate pickets. They were ready to continue their advance when the Federal plans unraveled due to a tragic mishap. As the 3rd New York approached the 7th New York in darkness, Bendix’s men, alerted by the sound of horses and unable to see the white armbands of the oncoming troops, fired into the 3rd’s ranks before Townsend’s troops could identify themselves, resulting in 18 casualties, the war’s first friendly fire incident.
The Confederates were also on the move in the darkness. The 1st North Carolina marched toward Little Bethel to interrupt any Union force moving across Newmarket Creek (the southwest branch of the Back River). Then at 3 a.m. a local woman, Hannah Tunnel, alerted Magruder about the Federal movements. The friendly fire mishap confirmed what she told Magruder and Hill, and Magruder prudently decided that he would fall back on Big Bethel to make a stand behind the earthworks.
Pierce, meanwhile, learned from a free black that the Southerners had 4,000 troops at Big Bethel. Captain Kilpatrick and Lt. Col. Gouverneur K. Warren of the 5th New York had both scouted the Confederate position. Although Kilpatrick confirmed reports that the Confederates had more than 4,000 men at Big Bethel, Warren disagreed. He thought the Confederate left could be turned, pointing out that the forward battery on the south side of Brick Kiln Creek was one of the “commanding eminences” and should be captured. Pierce ordered the attack to go forward despite losing the element of surprise. As the Union force marched toward Big Bethel, Pierce ordered the Little Bethel Chapel burned.
Hill had deployed his forces to resist the expected attack. Men of the 15th Virginia, along with one howitzer, manned the redoubt on the southern side of Brick Kiln Creek. Sharpshooters from the 1st North Carolina were posted along the edge of the woods along the Hampton-York Highway. On the northern side of Brick Kiln Creek, the Richmond Howitzers were positioned in the main redoubt, guarding the bridge with three guns; Major Montague’s companies and elements of the 1st North Carolina held the flanks and rear of the redoubt.
Confederate shells rained down on the Yankee troops as they left the cover of some woods and charged across an open field toward the redoubt. 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.
Hill stood in the open, calmly smoking a pipe during the hour-long artillery exchange, telling his men, “Boys, you have learned to dodge already.” The Mexican War veteran added, “I am an old hand at it”—then leaned away from a shell that flew past him and shook his finger at the Federals, yelling, “You missed me this time!”
The Confederate shell fire was more effective. 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.
Pierce tried to keep up the Federal drive, and attacked the forward Confederate redoubt with the 5th New York and 7th New York while the 3rd New York moved to envelop the Confederate right. The 15th Virginia abandoned its position when a priming wire broke in the vent of its howitzer. Colonel Duryea and his 5th New York pressed the Confederates, but the 15th Virginia blocked a move by the Zouaves to cross an old ford downstream.
Colonel Townsend’s 3rd New York’s critical assault on the Confederate right faltered when he noticed bayonets reflecting in the sun through the woods. Thinking that his troops were about to be flanked by a Confederate force, Townsend ordered a withdrawal. This left the Zouaves isolated in the Confederate redoubt. Under pressure from a counterattack by elements from the 15th Virginia, the Wythe Rifles and the 1st North Carolina, they retreated.
Several New Yorkers took refuge in a blacksmith shop and began shooting into the earthworks. When 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.”
Young Lieutenant Greble also 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.
Soon the entire Union force was in disorganized flight. The Federals didn’t feel safe until they crossed Newmarket Bridge. Colonel Warren, the only Union officer to maintain his composure, remained on the battlefield to collect the wounded and Lieutenant Greble’s body.
Big Bethel was a complete failure for the Union, whereas Rebel Colonel Hill noted that his men “seemed to enjoy it as much as boys do rabbit-shooting.” North Carolinian B.M. Hord remembered: “a regiment would come up, fire a volley or two, mostly over our heads and precipitately fall back. It seemed their principal object was to get a sight or shot at a Rebel, then fall back as quickly as possible.”
The Federals lost a total of 76 men: 18 killed, 53 wounded and five missing. Butler became a scapegoat for Union ineptitude, blamed for acting on poor intelligence and remaining at Fort Monroe during the fight. But Pierce received most of the criticism for the Union disaster.
The New York Times noted that Pierce “lost his presence of mind” during the engagement. Labeled incompetent, he was mustered out of the Army after his 90-day enlistment. The Northern press tried to salvage some honor out of the defeat. The Union troops were described as courageous, as they had “fought both friend and foe alike with equal resolution and only retired after exhausting their ammunition in face of a powerful enemy.”
Winthrop and Greble were lionized for their valor and sacrifice. According to D.H. Hill, Winthrop was the “only one of the enemy who exhibited an approximation of courage that day.” Urged by Butler to “Be Bold! Be Bold! But not too bold,” he almost won the day. The Atlantic Monthly ran several articles about his service that posthumously earned Winthrop even greater fame.
Southerners rejoiced over the Big Bethel victory, the more so since Confederate casualties were only one killed, seven wounded and three missing. The dead soldier, Private Henry Lawson Wyatt of Company B, 1st North Carolina, achieved martyrdom, as he had been killed by a shot through the forehead during a volunteer mission to “burn a house between the lines.” He was the first Confederate infantryman to die in battle.
Magruder himself would receive most of the glory for the win at Big Bethel. Jefferson Davis declared the battle a “glorious victory,” while Robert E. Lee took pleasure in expressing his “gratification at the gallant conduct of the troops under your command and approbation of dispositions made by you, resulting as they did, in the route of the enemy.” Magruder was promoted to brigadier general exactly one week after the battle.
The war went on. Major General George B. McClellan led a Union drive on Richmond in 1862 that caused Robert E. Lee to leave his desk job in order to push back the Union host. Magruder’s poor conduct during that fighting would get him shuttled off to Texas, and huge casualty lists soon pushed the names of Greble, Winthrop, Wyatt and Big Bethel from the public’s memory.
http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-big-bethel.htm
B Tuesday, June 10, 1862: Grand Gulf, Mississippi. The U.S.S. Wissahickon, under Commander John DeCamp, and U.S.S. Itasca, commanded by Lieutenant Caldwell, shelled Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi; they were joined 10 June by gunboats U.S.S. Iroquois and Katahdin.
http://civilwarlandscapes.org/cwla/chr/calendar/1862/620609.htm
B+ Tuesday, June 10, 1862: Grand Gulf, Mississippi - On June 10, the USS Wissahickon and USS Itasca was traveling down the Mississippi River when they came upon a Confederate gun battery on shore. A brief firefight occurred when the ships fired on the guns and the shore guns returned fire. The shelling lasted a short time and the ships withdrew.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
C Wednesday, June 10, 1863: Rector's Cross Roads, Virginia - On June 10, 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. US: 7k, 12+w, 17c. CS: 2k, 2+w
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
C+ The 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Noted for their lightning strikes on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines.
The 43rd Battalion was formed on June 10, 1863, 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. By the summer of 1864, Mosby's battalion had grown to six cavalry companies and one artillery company, comprising about 400 men. After February 1864, the Confederate Congress revoked the authority of all partisan units, except for two, one of which was the 43rd Battalion. The battalion never formally surrendered, but was disbanded on April 21, 1865, after Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House to Ulysses S. Grant, but not before attempting to negotiate surrender with Major General Winfield S. Hancock in Winchester, Virginia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_Battalion,_Virginia_Cavalry
D Friday, June 10, 1864: The 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 2,000 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. On June 10, 1864, Forrest’s smaller Confederate force defeated a much larger Union 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.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/brice-s-cross-roads.html
D+ The Battle of Brice's Crossroads, also known as the Battle of Tishomingo Creek and the Battle of Guntown, was fought on Friday, June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn, Mississippi, then part of the Confederate States of America. A Federal expedition from Memphis, Tennessee, of 4,800 infantry soldiers and 3,300 cavalry troopers, under the command of Brigadier-General Samuel Sturgis, was defeated by a Confederate force of 3,500 cavalry troopers under the command of Major-General Nathan Forrest. The battle was a victory for the Confederates. Forrest inflicted heavy casualties on the Federal force and captured more than 1,600 prisoners of war, 18 artillery pieces, and wagons loaded with supplies. Once Sturgis reached Memphis, he asked to be relieved of command.
Prelude. Sherman begin his Atlanta Campaign during the first week of May, moving slowly south while battling Confederate forces under General Joseph Johnston, an excellent defensive fighter. Johnston called in reinforcements, including Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk and two divisions of his Army of Mississippi, which in turn left Major-General Stephen Lee in command of all remaining Confederate forces within Polk's Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. Lee took charge of the department, but wisely gave Forrest authority to act independently in the northern part of Mississippi and Tennessee.
During the four-month Atlanta Campaign, the U.S. Army advanced steadily, but in the process extended their supply lines that stretched back to Nashville. As the campaign progressed, Sherman grew concerned the brazen Forrest might move his Confederate cavalry force out of North Mississippi into Middle Tennessee, strike the supply lines, and perhaps jeopardize the entire Federal effort. As a result, Sherman in late May ordered Sturgis out of Memphis and into North Mississippi with a force of just over 8,000 men. Sturgis's mission was to keep Forrest occupied and, if possible, destroy the Confederate cavalry force that Forrest commanded. Sherman's orders to Sturgis came just in time, as Forrest's cavalry had just left for Middle Tennessee and was forced to turn back to Mississippi to once again defend the northern part of the state. The Federal expedition marched out of Memphis on June 1. Sturgis had a great deal of discretion in his movements, but was generally expected to "proceed to Corinth, Mississippi, by way of Salem and Ruckersville, capture any force that may be there, then proceed south, destroying the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to Tupelo and Okolona, and as far as possible toward Macon and Columbus."
Battle of Brice's Crossroads, June 10, 1864. At 9:45 a.m., on June 10th, 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 a strong Confederate assault soon pushed them 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 line held until 1:30 p.m. when the first regiments of U.S. infantry arrived.
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.
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.
Aftermath. In correspondence with Brigadier-General Sturgis, Colonel Alex Wilkin, commander of the 9th Minnesota Infantry Regiment listed several reasons for the loss of the battle. He stated that General Sturgis, knowing that his men were under-supplied, having been on less than half rations, had been hesitant to advance on the enemy, but had done so against his better judgment because he had been ordered to do so. When the cavalry had engaged the enemy, many of the infantry had been ordered to advance double-time to support the cavalry. In their weakened condition, many had fallen out in the advance. Those who did arrive were exhausted at the beginning of the battle, while the Confederates were fresh and well fed, owing to a large supply in their rear.
The roads to Tupelo were wet and sloppy due to six sequential days of rain, which slowed the advance of the supply wagons and ammunition train. Several men were detailed to try to make the roads passable. Additionally, the horses pulling the trains were poorly fed because there had been little in the way of forage for them to eat along the way. This accounted for Major-General Forrest's capture of the artillery and supplies. Intelligence had entirely favored the South, because the Confederates had been constantly fed information about the position and strength of the Federals from civilians in the area, while Brigadier-General Sturgis had received no such intelligence. Because of this information, Forrest planned to meet the Federals at a place where he could ambush Sturgis and make retreat as difficult as possible. This location was close to his supply depot, and very far from the U.S. Army's. When the retreat had occurred, with food and supplies exhausted, many of the Federal soldiers were unable to retreat with the rest because of fatigue. This was why so many Federals were taken prisoner during the battle. Finally, Wilkin stated that the rumors that Sturgis had been intoxicated at the battle were false.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brice%27s_Crossroads
D+ Friday, June 10, 1864: Battle of Brice's Crossroads, Mississippi.
The battle took place as Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was pushing south into Georgia on his Atlanta Campaign. To supply his movements, Sherman depended on a supply line that was more than 100 miles long.
Well aware of the danger should Forrest and his men get loose behind him, Sherman developed a plan to divert and, hopefully, destroy the Confederate general. Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis was ordered to march from Memphis down into Mississippi for the sole purpose of finding and fighting Forrest.
Sturgis and his 8,100-man army crossed the line into Mississippi just in the nick of time. Forrest was already at Russellville, Alabama. The news that a Union army was advancing into Mississippi left him with no choice but to turn back.
Forrest assembled his small army of 3,500 men along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad just east of Brice’s Cross Roads. Even though he was outnumbered by a margin of two to one, the Confederate general moved forward to meet Sturgis on the morning of June 10, 1864.
Shortly after dawn, the advance elements of Sturgis’ army ran into a Confederate patrol northwest of Brice’s and drove it across Tishomingo Creek and through the cross roads. They ran into Forrest and a brigade of Kentuckians, however, and the first real shots of the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads were fired at about 9:30 a.m. The Federals halted in the face of stiff resistance and it quickly became of matter of, to paraphrase Forrest himself, who could “get there first with the most.” Both sides rushed forward troops as fast as possible.
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.
For four hours an intense battle raged in the fields and woods around the cross roads. By 5 p.m., Forrest had shattered the Union line and was moving in for the kill.
His battlefield tactics had convinced the rank and file Federal soldiers that they were outnumbered and facing annihilation. Realizing he was beaten, Sturgis ordered a retreat, but the Confederates were on his heels. The withdrawal turned to chaos when a wagon overturned on the Tishomingo Creek bridge and, were it not for a series of brave stands by African American soldiers from the U.S. Colored Troops, the entire Union army might have been captured.
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.”
http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bricescrossroads.html
FYI SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin Briant CPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell 1stSgt Eugene Harless PO3 Private RallyPoint MemberMSG Greg Kelly CPT Private RallyPoint Member LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant SPC Robert Treat GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad GySgt Jack Wallace PO1 Sam Deel LTC David Brown LTC Private RallyPoint Member SFC Eric Harmon SSG Bill McCoy SPC Private RallyPoint Member Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM

Civil War Timeline / Chronology for June 1861

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jun 11 at 2016 7:06 PM

SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:06:22 -0400

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.

Response by Maj William W. 'Bill' Price made Jun 11 at 2016 7:38 PM

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:38:10 -0400

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.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Jun 11 at 2016 7:40 PM

SSgt Robert Marx — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 19:40:29 -0400

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.

Response by TSgt Joe C. made Jun 11 at 2016 8:03 PM

TSgt Joe C. — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 20:03:00 -0400

Lots of things to choose from; all are quite interesting. I went with 1864. Thanks again for the information and history LTC Stephen F..

Response by SSG Leo Bell made Jun 12 at 2016 4:58 AM

SSG Leo Bell — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:58:37 -0400

Thanks for sharing

Response by PO3 Edward Riddle made Jun 10 at 2022 11:01 PM

PO3 Edward Riddle — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 23:01:49 -0400

Thank You Brother Steve for the Civil War history lesson. Of course, I'm going for those salty looking swabbies.