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

In 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed the Congressional legislation forbidding slavery in U. S. Territories.
In 1863: Federal forces focus on protecting the national capital during the campaign which would become known as the Gettysburg Campaign of 1863. They march north in parallel to the confederate forces of the Army of Northern Virginia which are moving north past Sharpsburg, Maryland were they were defeated in 1862 through Hagerstown, Maryland and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Friday, June 19, 1863: John Luman Harris Tenney, a young officer in the 2nd Ohio Cavalry Regiment, serving in Kentucky, writes in his journal: “19th. Felt miserable in the morning. Hospital moved to the brick church. Col. Dod and Bob worked at the old wagon. Thede and Mike went for cherries for a cherry pie tomorrow. Byerley came over. Read some in “Barnaby Rudge.” In the evening got a letter from Lucy Randall. Wrote a letter to Fannie.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863
Friday, June 19, 1863: Captain Charles Francis Adams, Jr., of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, writes in his journal of the ghastly losses his troopers suffered at the Battle of Aldie: Middleburg, Va., 10 A.M. Friday, June 19, 1863. “We were engaged at Aldie’s Gap day before yesterday and very roughly used. I went into action with ninety-four men in my squadron and fifty-seven in my Company and came out with between thirty and forty in my squadron and just twenty-five in my Company. My Company lost thirty-two out of fifty-seven — nine killed, twelve wounded and eleven missing; the squadron loss was sixty-one out of ninety-four. All the killed were of my Company. My poor men were just slaughtered and all we could do was to stand still and be shot down, while the other squadrons rallied behind us. The men fell right and left and the horses were shot through and through, and no man turned his back, but they only called on me to charge. I couldn’t charge, except across a ditch, up a hill and over two high stone walls, from behind which the enemy were slaying us; so I held my men there until, what with men shot down and horses wounded and plunging, my ranks were disordered and then I fell slowly back to some woods. Here I was ordered to dismount my men to fight on foot in the woods. I gave the order and the men were just off their horses and all in confusion, when the 4th N.Y. on our right gave way without a fight or an instant’s resistance, and in a second the rebs were riding yelling and slashing among us. Of course, resistance was impossible and I had just dismounted my squadron and given it to the enemy. For an instant I felt desperate and didn’t care whether I was captured or escaped, but finally I turned my horse and followed Curtis and Chamberlain in a stampede to the rear. Here I lost my missing men, for almost all my men were captured, though some afterwards escaped. In twenty minutes and without fault on our part I lost thirty-two as good men and horses as can be found in the cavalry corps. They seemed to pick out my best and truest men, my pets and favorites. How and why I escaped I can’t say, for my men fell all around me; but neither I nor my horses was touched, nor were any of my officers or their horses. . . .
Friday, June 19, 1863: John Lockwood writes of the departure of the 23rd New York State Militia (The Brooklyn 23rd), called up for duty in the emergency brought about by Lee’s invasion of the North. He offers a delightful and humorously tolerant vision of the pandemonium and spectacle surrounding the departure of troops (in their gray uniforms---common for militia units, even in the North) for what may become the battle front: “The Brooklyn Twenty-Third are ordered to assemble at their armory, corner of Fulton and Orange streets, at 7 o’clock, a.m., fully armed and equipped, and with two days’ cooked rations in their haversacks, to march at 8 o’clock precisely. The gallant fellows are up with the larks: a hundred last things are done with nervous haste; father and brother give and receive the parting brave hand-grip; mother and sister and sweetheart receive and give the last warm kiss; and with wet eyes, but in good heart, we set out for the rendezvous. There is remarkable promptitude in our departure. At the instant of 8 o’clock,—the advertised hour of starting,—the column is moving down Fulton street toward the ferry. . . . From the armory all the way down to the river it is a procession of Fairy-Land. The windows flutter with cambric; the streets are thronged with jostling crowds of people, hand-clapping and cheering the departing patriots; while up and down the curving street as far as you can see, the gleaming line of bayonets winds through the crowding masses—the men neatly uniformed and stepping steadily as one. Bosom friends dodge through the crowd to keep along near the dear one, now and then getting to his side to say some last word of counsel, or to receive commission to attend to some forgotten item of business, or say good-bye to some absent friend. As we make our first halt on the ferry-boat the exuberant vitality of the boys breaks out in song—every good fellow swearing tremendously, (but piously) to himself, from time to time, that he is going to give the rebels pandemonium, alternating the resolution with another equally fervid and sincere that he means to “drink” himself “stone-blind” on “hair-oil”. What connection there is in this sandwich of resolutions may be perhaps clear to the old campaigner. To passing vessels and spectators on either shore the scene must be inspiriting—a steamboat glittering with bayonets and packed with a grey-suited crowd plunging out from a hidden slip into the stream, and a mighty voice of song bursting from the mass and flowing far over the water. To us who are magna pars of the event, the moment is grand. Up Fulton street, New York, and down Broadway amid the usual crowds of those great thoroughfares, who waved us and cheered us generously on our patriotic way, and we are soon at the Battery where without halting we proceed on board the steamboat “John Potter” and stack arms. There is running to and fro of friends in pursuit of oranges and lemons—so cool and refreshing on the hot march—and a dozen little trifles with which haversacks are soon stuffed. One public-spirited individual in the crowd seizes the basket of an ancient orange-woman, making good his title in a very satisfactory way, and tosses the glowing fruit indiscriminately among the troops, who give him back their best “Bully Boy!” with a “Tiger!” added. Happy little incidents on every side serve to wile away a half hour, then the “all a-shore!” is sounded, the final good-bye spoken, the plank hauled in, and away we sail.” (from Blue Gray Review: http://www.bluegrayreview.com)

Pictures: 1863 gettysburg-campaign-map-925; 1864-06-19 Sinking of the CSS Alabama; 1862 ACW Western Theater Overview; Civil War Map of Missouri

A. Wednesday, June 19, 1861: The Battle of Cole Camp, Benton County, Missouri. The rebel victory assured an open line of march for the fleeing governor and Missouri State Guard away from Lyon's force in Boonville.
The engagement: The Unionist force occupied two adjoining farms ~600 yards apart belonging to Henry Harms and John Heisterberg. The Home Guards called the location Camp Lyon. Captain Abel H. W. Cook had about 400 infantry muskets. While up to 900 men had initially gathered, as many as half were furloughed for lack of weapons or for other reasons.
CSA Captain Walter S. O'Kane 's force marched from Warsaw toward Cole Camp on June 18 to attack the gathering Home Guard. A respected older citizen, John Tyree, had witnessed the preparations of the secessionists and reported it to the officers at Camp Lyon. As he returned from reporting this, he was captured by O'Kane's force. Some of the men recognized him from earlier in the day, surmised what he had done, tied him to a tree and shot him. (Although a slaveholder, Tyree was a Union man.)
Despite Tyree's warning, Cook's preparations were inadequate, for his pickets were overrun without alerting the sleeping Home Guard. There were admissions of heavy drinking in the camp and the men were slumbering in the early morning hours of June 19 when the attack began. O'Kane's infantry double-quicked from the east to the Heisterberg barn where a portion of the Home Guard were and delivered a volley into the shocked men. However, a company of the Home Guard under Captain Elsinger was just north of the barn. They responded with fire into the flank of the attackers, but having little ammunition were soon forced to withdraw.
O'Kane's mounted force then slammed into and drove away another nearby group of Home Guard that was attempting to form to repel the infantry.
Meanwhile, the remaining unengaged Union men at the Harms barn under Captains Grother and Mueller formed to join the fracas. The presence of a Union flag now in the hands of the rebels confused the men and they held their fire until they were fired upon. They withdrew without engaging and the fighting ended.
Capt. Cook supposedly fled at the beginning of the fight. He claimed to have left to consult with Captain Totten of Lyon's forces, but his men claimed otherwise, and Henry Imhauser was elected commander in July. The regiment disbanded in September, and in November, Cook was "shot by rebels" in Henry County. His widow was denied a pension because Cook "was not in U.S. service at time of death."
Walter S. O'Kane subsequently served as Aide-de-Camp, 8th Confederate Cavalry Division, and died 1908 in Arkansas.
Casualties and impact: Federal casualties were heavy with at least 34 killed or mortally wounded, 60 wounded, and 25 made prisoner. Perhaps most importantly, O'Kane's force captured 362 muskets with bayonets that would prove useful at the battles of Carthage and Wilson's Creek. Secessionist losses were around 7 killed and 25 wounded.
Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, in his 1890 book A Short History of the Confederate States of America, claimed that 206 Union soldiers were killed and wounded, and over 100 taken prisoner.
O'Kane's men apparently murdered one of the prisoners who spoke little English and was a cook. They mistook him for Capt. Cook and shot him on the spot.
The victory opened a path for the fleeing Missouri State Guard. When O'Kane's men joined the gathering Missouri State Guard, their tale provided a morale boost to the rest of the beleaguered force.
Sheriff Keown was captured along with 683 other Missouri State Guard recruits on December 19 in the Skirmish at Blackwater Creek. As a result of his actions at Cole Camp and in another affair, he was charged with spying and with robbing loyal citizens, but died in prison on April 16, 1862 before a trial was held.
Background: On June 15, 1861, Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon took control of the Missouri capitol in Jefferson City. Two days later, he routed the portion of the Missouri State Guard then assembling at Boonville with pro-secession Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson. As the portion of the guard accompanying Governor Jackson fled to the southwest of the state, a Unionist Missouri Home Guard regiment was in position to obstruct his retreat.
The majority of the inhabitants of Benton County were of Southern origin and sentiment; however, the German immigrants and their descendants were predominantly pro-Union and anti-slavery. These formed the core of the Benton County Home Guard. Captain Abel H. W. Cook began to form the regiment in early June and called for the volunteers to assemble northeast of Cole Camp on June 11.
A secessionist force was gathering nearby at Warsaw. Captain Walter S. O'Kane organized the Warsaw "Grays" and Captain Thomas W. Murray organized the "Blues." The combined force numbered about 350, with 100 of them mounted. two weeks after Cole Camp, just before the Battle of Carthage, O'Kane was elected lieutenant colonel of the battalion while Murray was elected major.
The secessionists were aided by Benton County's Sheriff, Bartholomew W. Keown. Keown attempted to arrest captains Cook and Mitchell at the Union Home Guard camp, but they refused to comply. The "arrest" apparently was a pretense for gathering intelligence.
B. Friday, June 19, 1863: Battle of Middleburg, Virginia. CSA Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, screening Lee’s invasion route, sparred with Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s cavalry. On June 19, J. Irvin Gregg’s brigade advanced, driving Stuart’s cavalry one mile beyond the town at Mount Defiance. Both sides were reinforced and mounted and dismounted skirmishing continued. Stuart was gradually levered out of his position but fell back to a second ridge, still covering the approaches to the Blue Ridge gap.
On June 19th, Col. J. Irvin Gregg’s brigade of Federal cavalry was ordered to retake the town of Middleburg and continue to press westwards up the Ashby Gap Turnpike. Gregg’s men easily drove off the Confederate forces in town and then stopped one mile west of town near a new Confederate defensive line placed atop Mount Defiance.
Stuart’s position atop Mount Defiance was a strong one. Not only were his 3,200 men positioned upon the high, commanding ridge, but the line was further augmented by the placement of several horse artillery batteries.
By mid-morning Brig. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg, J. Irvin Gregg’s cousin and superior, had ordered an attack upon Stuart’s Mount Defiance position. Supported by additional cavalry forces from Kilpatrick’s brigade and Federal artillery, Gregg’s forces began their attack after a brisk artillery duel.
Cavalry troopers from the 4th and 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry engaged in a “carbine assault” against the green 4th and 5th North Carolina cavalry regiments south of Mount Defiance. Troopers from the 1st Maine and 10th New York attacked up the Ashby Gap Turnpike and along its flanks. The powerful Union assault led to the momentary capture of the Confederate guns near the summit, but a quick counterattack by the 9th Virginia Cavalry drove back the Federal troopers.
On the Confederate southern flank, the hard-pressed North Carolinians had begun to give way and JEB Stuart and several of his staff officers rode down amidst the retreating troopers. As they emerged from a wood line the mounted group was taken under fire and Maj. Heros von Borcke, Stuart’s popular Prussian staff officer, was grievously wounded in the neck and taken from the field.
With the arrival of additional Federal cavalry under the command of Brig. Gen. John Buford threatening his left flank, and his right flank in a perilous state, Stuart smartly pulled his forces back to another ridge line along the Ashby Gap Turnpike, nearer the town of Upperville.
While the Union attack was successful in taking the Mount Defiance position, Stuart’s expert parrying of various Federal probes and attacks prevented Pleasonton’s forces from directly observing or interdicting the movement of the Army of Northern Virginia towards Maryland.
Background: Ordered to uncover the location and movements of Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton sent his Army of the Potomac cavalry forces westward into the Virginia counties of Loudoun and Fauquier. By mid-June 1863, there was much confusion and concern as to where Lee and his vaunted army were positioned. Were the Confederates headed back towards Richmond or were they being transferred to the Western Theater? Or was Lee headed toward the Potomac and another invasion of the North?
On June 17, 1863, Pleasonton’s troopers clashed with Confederate cavalry near the town of Aldie, Virginia, a strategic site where the Snickersville and Ashby Gap Turnpikes met. JEB Stuart, still under a dark cloud for his performance at Brandy Station, had been ordered by Lee to shield his army's movement north towards Maryland. The sharp, bloody battle at Aldie did not deter the Federal forces from continuing with their probes to the west.
Additionally, on June 17th, Pleasonton had ordered a patrol out towards the town of Middleburg. 280 men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, under the command of Col. Alfred Duffié, brushed aside the pickets outside of town and almost captured Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart and some of his staff who were unaware of the approach of the Federal cavalry.
The 1st Rhode Island, following its orders to hold the town, ambushed Confederate reinforcements sent towards Middleburg, but by the next morning they were overwhelmed by the 4th and 5th North Carolina cavalry regiments. The isolated Rhode Islanders lost 225 of its ranks in that action.
C. Sunday, June 19, 1864: Naval Battle of Cherbourg. Following an hour battle off the coast of France, the CSS Alabama sinks after being hit by several rounds from the guns of the USS Kearsarge. An English yacht rescues the crew. Men aboard USS Kearsarge spotted the incoming Confederate raider, so they turned their ship around to take the impending battle out of French territorial waters. Once out, Kearsarge turned about again, hoisted the United States Navy Jack, and lined up for a broadside. Captain Winslow ordered his gunners to hold their fire until the range closed. CSS Alabama fired the first shots. They are not known to have hit. Eventually Kearsarge was under way, and the range closed to within 1,000 yards (900 m) when she fired her first shot. The two warships maneuvered on opposite courses throughout the battle. Kearsarge and Alabama made seven spiraling circles around each other’s, moving southwest in a 3-knot current. Both Captain Semmes and Captain Winslow attempted to cross each other's bow, hoping to inflict heavy raking fire. The battle continued in this manner for several minutes; in the meantime, on the French coast, hundreds watched the battle. Kearsarge's armor cladding sustained two hits during the engagement.
The first shell, a 32-pounder, struck within the starboard gangway. The shot cut part of the chain armor and dented the wooden planking underneath. The second shot was again a 32-pounder that exploded and broke a link of the chain. Both hits struck the chain five feet above the waterline and therefore did not threaten the boilers or machinery. The gunnery of USS Kearsarge was reportedly more accurate than of the Confederates; she fired slowly with well-aimed shots, while Alabama fired rapidly. CSS Alabama fired a total of over 370 rounds during the fighting; it is not known how many Kearsarge fired, but it is known that she fired much less than the Confederates did. Eventually, after just over an hour of exchanging artillery fire, Alabama had received shot-holes beneath the waterline from Kearsarge's Dahlgren guns and began to sink. Captain Semmes struck the Confederate colors, but still the Kearsarge continued firing until a white flag was seen, raised by one of the Confederate sailors with his hand. The battle was over, so Captain Semmes sent his remaining dinghy to Captain Winslow, to ask for aid.
During the battle, over forty Confederate sailors were killed in action or drowned. Another seventy or so were picked up by Kearsarge. Thirty or so were rescued by the Deerhound, a British yacht, which Captain Winslow asked to help evacuate Alabama's crew, and three French pilot boats. Captain Semmes and fourteen of his officers were among the sailors rescued by Deerhound. Instead of delivering the captured Confederates to Kearsarge, the Deerhound set a course for Southampton, thus enabling Captain Semmes' escape. This act severely angered the Kearsarge's crew, who begged their captain to allow them to open fire on the British yacht. Captain Winslow would not allow this, so the Confederates got away and avoided imprisonment. Three men were wounded aboard the United States' vessel, one of whom died the following day.

1. Wednesday, June 19, 1861: Francis H Pierpont was elected governor of what would eventually become Western Virginia.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1861/
2. Wednesday, June 19, 1861 --- Having declared the state offices vacant, the delegates at Wheeling, Virginia, elect Francis H. Pierpont as provisional governor of Virginia and call for the western counties to secede from the state of Virginia. They offer a loyal Virginia state government to Washington, and choose representatives and 2 senators.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1861
3. Thursday, June 19, 1862: Lincoln signs the bill forbidding slavery in U. S. Territories.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186206
4. Thursday, June 19, 1862: Lincoln made it known that he planned to outlaw slavery in all states in America.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1862/
5. Friday, June 19, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 28
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863
6. Friday, June 19, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 23
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863
7. Friday, June 19, 1863 --- John Luman Harris Tenney, a young officer in the 2nd Ohio Cavalry Regiment, serving in Kentucky, writes in his journal: “19th. Felt miserable in the morning. Hospital moved to the brick church. Col. Dod and Bob worked at the old wagon. Thede and Mike went for cherries for a cherry pie tomorrow. Byerley came over. Read some in “Barnaby Rudge.” In the evening got a letter from Lucy Randall. Wrote a letter to Fannie.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863
8. Friday, June 19, 1863 --- Captain Charles Francis Adams, Jr., of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, writes in his journal of the ghastly losses his troopers suffered at the Battle of Aldie: Middleburg, Va., 10 A.M. Friday, June 19, 1863. “We were engaged at Aldie’s Gap day before yesterday and very roughly used. I went into action with ninety-four men in my squadron and fifty-seven in my Company and came out with between thirty and forty in my squadron and just twenty-five in my Company. My Company lost thirty-two out of fifty-seven — nine killed, twelve wounded and eleven missing; the squadron loss was sixty-one out of ninety-four. All the killed were of my Company. My poor men were just slaughtered and all we could do was to stand still and be shot down, while the other squadrons rallied behind us. The men fell right and left and the horses were shot through and through, and no man turned his back, but they only called on me to charge. I couldn’t charge, except across a ditch, up a hill and over two high stone walls, from behind which the enemy were slaying us; so I held my men there until, what with men shot down and horses wounded and plunging, my ranks were disordered and then I fell slowly back to some woods. Here I was ordered to dismount my men to fight on foot in the woods. I gave the order and the men were just off their horses and all in confusion, when the 4th N.Y. on our right gave way without a fight or an instant’s resistance, and in a second the rebs were riding yelling and slashing among us. Of course, resistance was impossible and I had just dismounted my squadron and given it to the enemy. For an instant I felt desperate and didn’t care whether I was captured or escaped, but finally I turned my horse and followed Curtis and Chamberlain in a stampede to the rear. Here I lost my missing men, for almost all my men were captured, though some afterwards escaped. In twenty minutes and without fault on our part I lost thirty-two as good men and horses as can be found in the cavalry corps. They seemed to pick out my best and truest men, my pets and favorites. How and why I escaped I can’t say, for my men fell all around me; but neither I nor my horses was touched, nor were any of my officers or their horses. . . .
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863
9. Friday, June 19, 1863 --- John Lockwood writes of the departure of the 23rd New York State Militia (The Brooklyn 23rd), called up for duty in the emergency brought about by Lee’s invasion of the North. He offers a delightful and humorously tolerant vision of the pandemonium and spectacle surrounding the departure of troops (in their gray uniforms---common for militia units, even in the North) for what may become the battle front: “The Brooklyn Twenty-Third are ordered to assemble at their armory, corner of Fulton and Orange streets, at 7 o’clock, a.m., fully armed and equipped, and with two days’ cooked rations in their haversacks, to march at 8 o’clock precisely. The gallant fellows are up with the larks: a hundred last things are done with nervous haste; father and brother give and receive the parting brave hand-grip; mother and sister and sweetheart receive and give the last warm kiss; and with wet eyes, but in good heart, we set out for the rendezvous. There is remarkable promptitude in our departure. At the instant of 8 o’clock,—the advertised hour of starting,—the column is moving down Fulton street toward the ferry. . . . From the armory all the way down to the river it is a procession of Fairy-Land. The windows flutter with cambric; the streets are thronged with jostling crowds of people, hand-clapping and cheering the departing patriots; while up and down the curving street as far as you can see, the gleaming line of bayonets winds through the crowding masses—the men neatly uniformed and stepping steadily as one. Bosom friends dodge through the crowd to keep along near the dear one, now and then getting to his side to say some last word of counsel, or to receive commission to attend to some forgotten item of business, or say good-bye to some absent friend. As we make our first halt on the ferry-boat the exuberant vitality of the boys breaks out in song—every good fellow swearing tremendously, (but piously) to himself, from time to time, that he is going to give the rebels pandemonium, alternating the resolution with another equally fervid and sincere that he means to “drink” himself “stone-blind” on “hair-oil”. What connection there is in this sandwich of resolutions may be perhaps clear to the old campaigner. To passing vessels and spectators on either shore the scene must be inspiriting—a steamboat glittering with bayonets and packed with a grey-suited crowd plunging out from a hidden slip into the stream, and a mighty voice of song bursting from the mass and flowing far over the water. To us who are magna pars of the event, the moment is grand. Up Fulton street, New York, and down Broadway amid the usual crowds of those great thoroughfares, who waved us and cheered us generously on our patriotic way, and we are soon at the Battery where without halting we proceed on board the steamboat “John Potter” and stack arms. There is running to and fro of friends in pursuit of oranges and lemons—so cool and refreshing on the hot march—and a dozen little trifles with which haversacks are soon stuffed. One public-spirited individual in the crowd seizes the basket of an ancient orange-woman, making good his title in a very satisfactory way, and tosses the glowing fruit indiscriminately among the troops, who give him back their best “Bully Boy!” with a “Tiger!” added. Happy little incidents on every side serve to wile away a half hour, then the “all a-shore!” is sounded, the final good-bye spoken, the plank hauled in, and away we sail.” (from Blue Gray Review: http://www.bluegrayreview.com)
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1863

A Wednesday, June 19, 1861: The Battle of Cole Camp, Benton County, Missouri. The rebel victory assured an open line of march for the fleeing governor and Missouri State Guard away from Lyon's force in Boonville.
Background: On June 15, 1861, Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon took control of the Missouri capitol in Jefferson City. Two days later, he routed the portion of the Missouri State Guard then assembling at Boonville with pro-secession Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson. As the portion of the guard accompanying Governor Jackson fled to the southwest of the state, a Unionist Missouri Home Guard regiment was in position to obstruct his retreat.
The majority of the inhabitants of Benton County were of Southern origin and sentiment; however, the German immigrants and their descendants were predominantly pro-Union and anti-slavery. These formed the core of the Benton County Home Guard. Captain Abel H. W. Cook began to form the regiment in early June and called for the volunteers to assemble northeast of Cole Camp on June 11.
A secessionist force was gathering nearby at Warsaw. Captain Walter S. O'Kane organized the Warsaw "Grays" and Captain Thomas W. Murray organized the "Blues." The combined force numbered about 350, with 100 of them mounted. two weeks after Cole Camp, just before the Battle of Carthage, O'Kane was elected lieutenant colonel of the battalion while Murray was elected major.
The secessionists were aided by Benton County's Sheriff, Bartholomew W. Keown. Keown attempted to arrest captains Cook and Mitchell at the Union Home Guard camp, but they refused to comply. The "arrest" apparently was a pretense for gathering intelligence.
The engagement: The Unionist force occupied two adjoining farms ~600 yards apart belonging to Henry Harms and John Heisterberg. The Home Guards called the location Camp Lyon. Cook had about 400 infantry muskets. While up to 900 men had initially gathered, as many as half were furloughed for lack of weapons or for other reasons.
O'Kane's force marched from Warsaw toward Cole Camp on June 18 to attack the gathering Home Guard. A respected older citizen, John Tyree, had witnessed the preparations of the secessionists and reported it to the officers at Camp Lyon. As he returned from reporting this, he was captured by O'Kane's force. Some of the men recognized him from earlier in the day, surmised what he had done, tied him to a tree and shot him. (Although a slaveholder, Tyree was a Union man.)
Despite Tyree's warning, Cook's preparations were inadequate, for his pickets were overrun without alerting the sleeping Home Guard. There were admissions of heavy drinking in the camp and the men were slumbering in the early morning hours of June 19 when the attack began. O'Kane's infantry double-quicked from the east to the Heisterberg barn where a portion of the Home Guard were and delivered a volley into the shocked men. However, a company of the Home Guard under Captain Elsinger was just north of the barn. They responded with fire into the flank of the attackers, but having little ammunition were soon forced to withdraw.
O'Kane's mounted force then slammed into and drove away another nearby group of Home Guard that was attempting to form to repel the infantry.
Meanwhile, the remaining unengaged Union men at the Harms barn under Captains Grother and Mueller formed to join the fracas. The presence of a Union flag now in the hands of the rebels confused the men and they held their fire until they were fired upon. They withdrew without engaging and the fighting ended.
Capt. Cook supposedly fled at the beginning of the fight. He claimed to have left to consult with Captain Totten of Lyon's forces, but his men claimed otherwise, and Henry Imhauser was elected commander in July. The regiment disbanded in September, and in November, Cook was "shot by rebels" in Henry County. His widow was denied a pension because Cook "was not in U.S. service at time of death."
Walter S. O'Kane subsequently served as Aide-de-Camp, 8th Confederate Cavalry Division, and died 1908 in Arkansas.
Casualties and impact: Federal casualties were heavy with at least 34 killed or mortally wounded, 60 wounded, and 25 made prisoner. Perhaps most importantly, O'Kane's force captured 362 muskets with bayonets that would prove useful at the battles of Carthage and Wilson's Creek. Secessionist losses were around 7 killed and 25 wounded.
Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, in his 1890 book A Short History of the Confederate States of America, claimed that 206 Union soldiers were killed and wounded, and over 100 taken prisoner.
O'Kane's men apparently murdered one of the prisoners who spoke little English and was a cook. They mistook him for Capt. Cook and shot him on the spot.
The victory opened a path for the fleeing Missouri State Guard. When O'Kane's men joined the gathering Missouri State Guard, their tale provided a morale boost to the rest of the beleaguered force.
Sheriff Keown was captured along with 683 other Missouri State Guard recruits on December 19 in the Skirmish at Blackwater Creek. As a result of his actions at Cole Camp and in another affair, he was charged with spying and with robbing loyal citizens, but died in prison on April 16, 1862 before a trial was held.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cole_Camp_(1861)
[Occurred on June 17, 1862 not Thursday, June 19, 1862] --- Battle of St. Charles. In Arkansas, a Union attempt to establish communications by river to Gen. Samuel Curtis’s army in Central Arkansas, results in an expedition up the White River, with the ironclads Mound City, St. Louis, timberclads Lexington and Conestoga, and two transports carrying the 46th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Reg. At a bend in the river at St. Charles, Arkansas, the Rebels have set up two batteries of guns, and have sunk a gunboat in the river as an obstruction. A lively artillery duel begins, with the Mound City taking the lead. At one point, however, a Confederate solid shot pierces the Mound City’s armored casemate, killing several men and piercing the ship’s boiler. The escaping steam kills or badly scalds most of the crew. A few are able to escape, but Rebel riflemen shoot many of them in the water. Only 25 men of the crew remain uninjured, but 125 are killed, and another 25 badly burned or wounded, including Commander Kilty, the skipper of the ironclad. Strangely enough, the ship’s boiler is soon repaired, and the expedition continues upriver---but eventually gives up and returns to base.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1862
Thursday, June 19, 1862 --- Gen. Hunter, commander of the Dept. of the Southeast, in South Carolina, gives orders to arrest Gen. Benham for disobedience to orders and the fiasco at Secessionville, and appoints Gen. Horatio Wright to command in Benham’s stead.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+19%2C+1862
Thursday, June 19, 1862 --- Gen. John Pope is summoned to Washington by Sec. of War Edwin Stanton.
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B Friday, June 19, 1863 --- Battle of Middleburg, Virginia: For the last three days, Gen. Pleasonton, commander of Hooker’s cavalry, has probed the Rebel cavalry screen so ably wielded by Jeb Stuart, and in a three-day series of sharp skirmishes near this town (starting with the rather bloody battle at Aldie), finally fails to penetrate that screen. As of this date, Gen. Hooker still has no clear idea of where Lee’s army is. In the heavy skirmishing today, Col. Gregg’s Union brigade is sent forward, dismounted, and they engage the Rebel troopers with competence, driving them back. Another Rebel brigade shows up, charges Gregg’s men, and more Union reinforcements are moved up. Finally, Gen. Stuart calls off the fight, and moves his troopers further west. This fight is a Union victory, but Gen. Pleasonton has not gained any useful intelligence for Hooker.
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B+ Friday, June 19, 1863: Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, screening Lee’s invasion route, sparred with Pleasonton’s cavalry. On the June 17, Col. Alfred Duffié’s isolated 1st Rhode Island Cavalry Regiment was attacked by the brigades of Munford and Robertson. The 1st Rhode Island Cavalry was routed, taking about 250 casualties. On June 19, J. Irvin Gregg’s brigade advanced, driving Stuart’s cavalry one mile beyond the town at Mount Defiance. Both sides were reinforced and mounted and dismounted skirmishing continued. Stuart was gradually levered out of his position but fell back to a second ridge, still covering the approaches to the Blue Ridge gap.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/middleburg/middleburg-maps/middleburg-june-19-1863.html
B++ Friday, June 19, 1863: Battle of Middleburg, Virginia: Ordered to uncover the location and movements of Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton sent his Army of the Potomac cavalry forces westward into the Virginia counties of Loudoun and Fauquier. By mid-June 1863, there was much confusion and concern as to where Lee and his vaunted army were positioned. Were the Confederates headed back towards Richmond or were they being transferred to the Western Theater? Or was Lee headed toward the Potomac and another invasion of the North?
On June 17, 1863, Pleasonton’s troopers clashed with Confederate cavalry near the town of Aldie, Virginia, a strategic site where the Snickersville and Ashby Gap Turnpikes met. JEB Stuart, still under a dark cloud for his performance at Brandy Station, had been ordered by Lee to shield his army's movement north towards Maryland. The sharp, bloody battle at Aldie did not deter the Federal forces from continuing with their probes to the west.
Additionally on the 17th, Pleasonton had ordered a patrol out towards the town of Middleburg. 280 men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, under the command of Col. Alfred Duffié, brushed aside the pickets outside of town and almost captured Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart and some of his staff who were unaware of the approach of the Federal cavalry.
The 1st Rhode Island, following its orders to hold the town, ambushed Confederate reinforcements sent towards Middleburg, but by the next morning they were overwhelmed by the 4th and 5th North Carolina cavalry regiments. The isolated Rhode Islanders lost 225 of its ranks in that action.
On June 19th, Col. J. Irvin Gregg’s brigade of Federal cavalry was ordered to retake the town of Middleburg and continue to press westwards up the Ashby Gap Turnpike. Gregg’s men easily drove off the Confederate forces in town and then stopped one mile west of town near a new Confederate defensive line placed atop Mount Defiance.
Stuart’s position atop Mount Defiance was a strong one. Not only were his 3,200 men positioned upon the high, commanding ridge, but the line was further augmented by the placement of several horse artillery batteries.
By mid-morning Brig. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg, J. Irvin Gregg’s cousin and superior, had ordered an attack upon Stuart’s Mount Defiance position. Supported by additional cavalry forces from Kilpatrick’s brigade and Federal artillery, Gregg’s forces began their attack after a brisk artillery duel.
Cavalry troopers from the 4th and 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry engaged in a “carbine assault” against the green 4th and 5th North Carolina cavalry regiments south of Mount Defiance. Troopers from the 1st Maine and 10th New York attacked up the Ashby Gap Turnpike and along its flanks. The powerful Union assault led to the momentary capture of the Confederate guns near the summit, but a quick counterattack by the 9th Virginia Cavalry drove back the Federal troopers.
On the Confederate southern flank, the hard-pressed North Carolinians had begun to give way and JEB Stuart and several of his staff officers rode down amidst the retreating troopers. As they emerged from a wood line the mounted group was taken under fire and Maj. Heros von Borcke, Stuart’s popular Prussian staff officer, was grievously wounded in the neck and taken from the field.
With the arrival of additional Federal cavalry under the command of Brig. Gen. John Buford threatening his left flank, and his right flank in a perilous state, Stuart smartly pulled his forces back to another ridge line along the Ashby Gap Turnpike, nearer the town of Upperville.
While the Union attack was successful in taking the Mount Defiance position, Stuart’s expert parrying of various Federal probes and attacks prevented Pleasonton’s forces from directly observing or interdicting the movement of the Army of Northern Virginia towards Maryland.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/middleburg.html?tab=facts
Friday, June 19, 1863 --- On this date, the U.S. Congress admits West Virginia officially to the Union as the 35th state, ratifying Pres. Lincoln’s proclamation.
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Friday, June 19, 1863 --- John On this date, command of the XIII Corps, part of Grant’s army---what used to be McClernand’s corps---is given to Maj. Gen. Edward O.C. Ord.
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D Sunday, June 19, 1864: Following an hour battle off the coast of France, the CSS Alabama sinks after being hit by several rounds from the guns of the USS Kearsarge. An English yacht rescues the crew.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186406
D+ Sunday, June 19, 1864: Naval Battle of Cherbourg. Men aboard USS Kearsarge spotted the incoming Confederate raider, so they turned their ship around to take the impending battle out of French territorial waters. Once out, Kearsarge turned about again, hoisted the United States Navy Jack, and lined up for a broadside. Captain Winslow ordered his gunners to hold their fire until the range closed. CSS Alabama fired the first shots. They are not known to have hit. Eventually Kearsarge was under way, and the range closed to within 1,000 yards (900 m) when she fired her first shot. The two warships maneuvered on opposite courses throughout the battle. Kearsarge and Alabama made seven spiraling circles around each others, moving southwest in a 3-knot current. Both Captain Semmes and Captain Winslow attempted to cross each other's bow, hoping to inflict heavy raking fire. The battle continued in this manner for several minutes; in the meantime, on the French coast, hundreds watched the battle. Kearsarge's armor cladding sustained two hits during the engagement.
The first shell, a 32-pounder, struck within the starboard gangway. The shot cut part of the chain armor and dented the wooden planking underneath. The second shot was again a 32-pounder that exploded and broke a link of the chain. Both hits struck the chain five feet above the waterline and therefore did not threaten the boilers or machinery. The gunnery of USS Kearsarge was reportedly more accurate than of the Confederates; she fired slowly with well-aimed shots, while Alabama fired rapidly. CSS Alabama fired a total of over 370 rounds during the fighting; it is not known how many Kearsarge fired, but it is known that she fired much less than the Confederates did. Eventually, after just over an hour of exchanging artillery fire, Alabama had received shot-holes beneath the waterline from Kearsarge's Dahlgren guns and began to sink. Captain Semmes struck the Confederate colors, but still the Kearsarge continued firing until a white flag was seen, raised by one of the Confederate sailors with his hand. The battle was over, so Captain Semmes sent his remaining dinghy to Captain Winslow, to ask for aid.
During the battle, over forty Confederate sailors were killed in action or drowned. Another seventy or so were picked up by Kearsarge. Thirty or so were rescued by the Deerhound, a British yacht, which Captain Winslow asked to help evacuate Alabama's crew, and three French pilot boats. Captain Semmes and fourteen of his officers were among the sailors rescued by Deerhound. Instead of delivering the captured Confederates to Kearsarge, the Deerhound set a course for Southampton, thus enabling Captain Semmes' escape. This act severely angered the Kearsarge's crew, who begged their captain to allow them to open fire on the British yacht. Captain Winslow would not allow this, so the Confederates got away and avoided imprisonment. Three men were wounded aboard the United States' vessel, one of whom died the following day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cherbourg_(1864)
D+ Sunday, June 19, 1864: Naval Battle of Cherbourg. The Alabama was built for speed rather than battle. Her lines were symmetrical and fine; her material of the best. In fifteen minutes her propeller could be hoisted, and she could go through every evolution under sail without any impediment. In less time her propeller could be lowered; with sails furled, and yards braced within two points of a head-wind, she was a perfect steamer. Her speed, independent, was from ten to twelve knots; combined, and under favorable circumstances, she could make fifteen knots. When ready for sea she drew fifteen feet of water. She was barkentine-rigged, with long lower masts, which enabled her to carry an immense spread of lower canvas, and to lay close to the wind. Her engines were of three hundred horse-power, with a condensing apparatus that was indispensable.
Our armament consisted of eight guns: one Blakely 100-pounder rifled gun, pivoted forward; one 8-inch solid-shot gun, pivoted abaft the mainmast; and six 32-pounders in broadside. Our crew numbered about 120 men and 24 officers. The commander, Captain Semmes, had been an officer of high standing in the old navy, had studied law, paying particular attention to the international branch, and had been admitted to the bar in Alabama, of which State he was a citizen. Thus he was eminently qualified for the position he was now called upon to assume. During the Mexican war he commanded the brig Somers in the blockade of Vera Cruz, and lost that unfortunate vessel in chase, during a norther, and narrowly escaped drowning.
Of the crew of the Alabama I cannot say too much. It was made up from all the seafaring nations of the globe, with a large sprinkling of Yankee tars (among whom are to be found the best sailors), and with a nucleus of Southern pilots and seamen from the ports of Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans. The pilots were given the positions of petty officers, and sustained their reputation nobly, materially aiding in the discipline of the crew, for upon our peculiar service, and with our ports locked against us, we were compelled to observe the strictest discipline, both with officers and crew. As the executive officer who enforced this discipline I may say that a nobler set of young men filling the position of officers, and a braver and more willing crew, never floated. As an evidence of their attachment to the. captain and the service, I will state that after the sinking of the Alabama, upon our visit to Liverpool, where the crew were paid off, a large deputation of them called upon Captain Semmes, and pleaded with him to get command of another ship the equal of the Kearsarge, promising that they would join him to a man.
The eleventh day after going into commission we captured our first prize, not one hundred miles from where we hoisted our flag. After working round the Azores for some weeks, with fine breezes, we shaped our course for Sandy Hook, but we encountered frequent gales off the Newfoundland banks, and on the 16th of October lost our main-yard in a cyclone. Being considerably shaken up, we decided to seek a milder latitude. Running down to the Windward Islands, we entered the Caribbean Sea. Our prizes gave us regularly the mails from the United States, from which we learned of the fitting out of the army under General Banks for the attack on Galveston and the invasion of Texas, and the day on which the fleet would sail, whereupon Captain Semmes calculated about the time they would arrive, and shaped his course accordingly, coaling and refitting the ship at the Arcas Keys. He informed me of his plan of attack, which was to sight the shipping off Galveston about the time that General Banks was due with his large fleet of transports, under the convoy perhaps of a few vessels of war.
The entire fleet would anchor in the outer roadstead, as there is only sufficient water on the bar for light-draughts. All attention at such a time would be given to the disembarkation of the army, as there were no enemy's cruisers to molest them, our presence in the Gulf not being known. We were to take the bearing of the fleet, and, after the mid-watch was set and all was quiet, silently approach, steam among them with both batteries in action, slowly steam through the midst of them, pouring in a continuous discharge of shell to fire and sink them as we went; thus we expected to accomplish our work and be off on another cruise before the convoys could move.
But instead of sighting General Banks's fleet of transports we sighted five vessels of war at anchor, and soon after our lookout reported a steamer standing out for us. We were then under topsails only, with a light breeze, heading off shore, and gradually drawing our pursuer from the squadron. It was the Hatteras, and about dark she came up with us, and in an action of thirteen minutes we sank her. The action closed about twilight, when Captain Semmes, who always took his position on the weather horse-block, above the rail of the ship, to enable him to see all the surroundings, and to note the effect of our shot in action, or at exercise at general quo me and said, "Mr. Kell, the enemy have fired a gun to leeward; cease firing." We were then about seventy-five yards from the enemy, and could hear distinctly their hail, saying they "were fast sinking and on fire in three places, and for God's sake to save them." We immediately sent boats, and in the darkness took every living soul from her. These events occurred in the presence of the enemy's fleet, bearing the pennant, of Commodore Bell within signal-distance. The Hatteras went down in a few minutes.
She carried a larger crew than our own. Knowing that the Federal squadron would soon be upon us, every light on board ship was put under cover and we shaped our course for broader waters. During the night a, fearful norther came sweeping after us, but under the circumstances it was a welcome gale. Hoisting our propeller, we crowded all the sail we could bear, and soon were out of harm's way. As Captain Blake of the Hatteras (whom I had known in the old service) came on deck, he remarked upon the speed we were making, and gracefully saluted me with, "Fortune favors the brave, sir!" I wished him a pleasant voyage with us; and I am sure he, with his officers and men, received every attention while on board the Alabama. We paroled the officers and crew of the Hatteras at Kingston, Jamaica, and after repairing a few shot-holes and coaling ship, we passed on to our work in the South Atlantic, taking our position at the cross-roads of the homeward-bound East India and Pacific trade. After a few weeks of good work in that locality and along the coast of Brazil, we crossed over to the Cape of Good Hope, where we played "hide and seek " with the United States steamer Vanderbilt, whose commander, Charles H. Baldwin, had explained to Sir Baldwin Walker, the English Admiral of the station at Simon's Town, "that he did not intend to fire a gun at the Alabama, but to run her down and sink her." We were not disposed to try issues with the Vanderbilt; so one night when it blew a gale of wind from the south-east, we hove anchor and steamed out of Simon's Bay. By morning we had made a good offing, and, setting what sail we could carry, hoisted our propeller and made a due south course. We ran down to the fortieth degree south latitude, where we fell in with westerly gales and bowled along nearly due east, until we shaped our course for the Straits of Java. Our long stretch across the Indian Ocean placed us in the China Sea, where we were least expected, and where we soon fell in with the China trade. In a few weeks we had so paralyzed the enemy's commerce that their ships were absolutely locked up in port, and neutrals were doing all the carrying trade.
Having thus virtually cleared the sea of the United States flag, we ran down to Singapore, coaled ship, and then turned westward through the Straits of Malacca, across to India thence to the east coast of Africa. Passing through the Mozambique Channel, we again touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and thence crossed to the coast of Brazil.
Our little ship was now showing signs of the active work she had been doing. Her boilers were burned out, and her machinery was sadly in want of repairs. She was loose at every joint, her seams were open, and the copper on her bottom was in rolls. We therefore set our course for Europe, and on the 11th of June, 1864, entered the port of Cherbourg, and applied for permission to go into dock. There being none but national docks, the Emperor had first to be communicated with before permission could be granted, and he was absent from Paris. It was during this interval of waiting, on the third day after our arrival, that the Kearsarge steamed into the harbor, for the purpose, as we learned, of taking on board the prisoners we had landed from our last two prizes. Captain Semmes, however, objected to this on the ground that the Kearsarge was adding to her crew in a neutral port. The authorities conceding this objection valid, the Kearsarge steamed out of the harbor, without anchoring. During her stay we examined her closely with our glasses, but she was keeping on the opposite side of the harbor, out of the reach of a very close scrutiny, which accounts for our not detecting the boxing to her chain armor. After she left the harbor Captain Semmes sent for me to his cabin, and said: "I am going out to fight the Kearsarge; what do you think of it ?" We discussed the battle advantage the Kearsarge had over us in her 11-inch guns.
She was built for a vessel of war, and we for speed, and though she carried one gun less, her battery was more effective at point-blank range. While the Alabama carried one more gun, the Kearsarge threw more metal at a broadside; and while our heavy guns were more effective at long range, her 11-inch guns gave her greatly the advantage at close range. She also had a slight advantage in her crew, she carrying 163, all told, while we carried 149.
Considering well these advantages, Captain Semmes communicated through our agent to the United States consul that if Captain Winslow would wait outside the harbor he would fight him as soon as we could coal ship.
Accordingly, on Sunday morning, June 19th, between 9 and 10 o'clock, we weighed anchor and stood out of the western entrance of the harbor, the French iron-clad frigate Couronne following us. The day was bright and beautiful, with a light breeze blowing. Our men were neatly dressed, and our officers in full uniform. The report of our going out to fight the Kearsarge had been circulated, and many persons from Paris and the surrounding country had come down to witness the engagement. With a large number of the inhabitants of Cherbourg they collected on every prominent point on the shore that would afford a view seaward. As we rounded the breakwater we discovered the Kearsarge about seven miles to the northward and eastward. We immediately shaped our course for her, called all hands to quarters, and cast loose the starboard battery. Upon reporting to the captain that the ship was ready for action, he directed me to send all hands aft, and mounting a gun-carriage he made the following address: "OFFICERS AND SEAMEN OF THE ALABAMA: You have at length another opportunity of meeting the enemy--the first that has been presented to you since you sank the Hatteras! In the meantime you have been all over the world, and it is not too much to say that you have destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, one-half of the enemy's commerce, which at the war covered every sea. This is an achievement of which you may well be proud, and a grateful country will not be unmindful of it. The name of your ship has become a household word wherever civilization extends! Shall that name be tarnished by defeat? The thing is impossible! Remember that you are in the English Channel, the theater of so much of the naval glory of our race and that the eyes of all Europe are at this moment upon you. The flag that floats over you is that of a young republic, which bids defiance to her enemy's whenever and wherever found! Show the world that you know how to uphold it! Go to your quarters."
In about forty-five minutes we were somewhat over a mile from the Kearsarge, when she headed for us, presenting her starboard bow. At a distance of a mile we commenced the action with our 100-pounder pivot-gun from our starboard bow. Both ships were now approaching each other at high speed, and soon the action became general with broadside batteries at a distance of about five hundred yards. To prevent passing, each ship used a strong port helm. Thus the action was fought around a common center, gradually drawing in the circle. At this range we used shell upon the enemy. Captain Semmes, standing on the horse-block abreast the mizzen-mast with his glass in hand, observed the effect of our shell. He called to me and said: " Mr. Kell use solid shot; our shell strike the enemy's side and fall into the water." We were not at this time aware of the chain armor of the enemy, and attributed the failure of our shell to our defective ammunition. The enemy's 11-inch shells were now doing severe execution upon our quarter-deck section. Three of them successively entered our 8-inch pivot-gun port: the first swept off the forward part of the gun's crew the second killed one man and wounded several others; and the third struck the breast of the gun-carriage, and spun around on the deck till one of the men picked it up and threw it overboard.
Our decks were now covered with the dead and the wounded, and the ship was careening heavily to starboard from the effects of the shot-holes on her water-line: Captain Semmes ordered me to be ready to make all sail possible when the circuit of fight should put our head to the coast of France ; then he would notify me at the same time to pivot to port and continue the action with the port battery, hoping thus to right the ship and enable us to reach the coast of France. The evolution was performed beautifully, righting the helm, hoisting the head-sails, hauling aft the tore try-sail sheet, and pivoting to port, continuing almost without cessation.
This evolution exposed us to a raking fire, but, strange to say, the Kearsarge did not take advantage of it. The port side of the quarter-deck was so encumbered with the mangled trunks of the dead that I had to have them thrown overboard, in order to fight the after pivot-gun. I abandoned the after 32-pounder, and transferred the men to fill up the vacancies at the pivot-gun under the charge of young Midshipman Anderson, who in the midst of the carnage filled his place like a veteran. At this moment the chief engineer came on deck and reported the fires put out, and that he could no longer work the engines. Captain Semmes said to me, "Go below, sir, and see how long the ship can float." As I entered the ward-room the sight was indeed appalling. There stood Assistant-Surgeon Llewellyn at his post, but the table and the patient upon it had been swept away from him by an 11-inch shell, which opened in the side of the ship an aperture that was fast filling the ship with water.
It took me but a moment to return to the deck and report to the captain that we could not float ten minutes. He replied to me, "Then, sir, cease firing, shorten sail, and haul down the colors; it will never do in this nineteenth century for us to go down, and the decks covered with our gallant wounded." The order was promptly executed, after which the Kearsarge deliberately fired into us five shot. I ordered the men to stand to their quarters and not flinch from the shot of the enemy; they stood every man to his post most heroically. With the first shot fired upon us after our colors were down, the quarter master was ordered to show a white flag over the stern, which order was executed in my presence. When the firing ceased Captain Semmes or der ed me to dispatch an officer to the Kearsarge to say that our ship was sinking, and to ask that they send boats to save our wounded, as our boats were disabled. The ding boat, had escaped damage. I dispatched Master's-mate Fullam with the request. No boats appearing, I had one of our quarter-boats lowered, which was slightly injured, and I ordered the wounded placed in her. Dr. Galt, the surgeon who was in charge of the magazine and shell-room division, came on deck at this moment and was at once put in charge of the boat, with orders to "take the wounded to the Kearsarge." They shoved off just in time to save the poor fellows from going down in the ship.
I now gave the order for every man to jump overboard with a spar and save himself from the sinking ship. To enforce the order, I walked forward and urged the men over board. As soon as the decks were cleared, save of the bodies of the dead, I returned to the stern-port, where stood Captain Semmes with one or two of the men and his faithful steward, who, poor fellow! was doomed to a watery grave, as he could not swim. The Alabama's stern-port was now almost at the water's edge. Partly undressing, we plunged into the sea, and made an offing from the sinking ship, Captain Semmes with a life preserver and I on a grating.
The Alabama settled stern foremost, launching her bows high in the air. Graceful even in her death-struggle, she in a moment disappeared from the face of the waters. The sea now presented a mass of living heads, striving for their lives. Many poor fellows sank for the want of timely aid. Near me I saw a float of empty shell-boxes, and called to one of the men, a good swimmer, to examine it; he cried," It is the doctor sir, dead." Poor Llewellyn! He perished almost in sight of his home. The young midshipman, Maffitt, swam to me and offered his life-preserver.
My grating was not proving a very buoyant float, and the white-caps breaking over my head were distressingly uncomfortable, to say the least. Maffitt said: "Mr. Kell, take my life-preserver, sir; you are almost exhausted." The gallant boy did not consider his own condition, but his pallid face told me that his heroism was superior to his bodily suffering, and I refused it. After twenty minutes or more I heard near me some one call out "There is our first lieutenant," and the next moment, I was pulled into a boat, in which was Captain Semmes, stretched out in the stern-sheets, as pallid as death. He had received during the action a slight contusion on the hand, and the struggle in the water had almost exhausted him. There were also several of our crew in the boat, and in a few moments we were alongside a little steam-yacht which had come among our floating men, and by throwing them ropes had saved many lives.
Upon reaching her deck, I ascertained for the first time that she was the yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr. John Lancaster, of England. In looking about I saw two French pilot-boats engaged in saving our crew, and finally two boats from the Kearsarge. To my surprise I found on the yacht Mr. Fullam, whom I had dispatched in the dingey to ask that boats be sent to save our wounded. He reported to me that our shot had literally torn the casing from the chain armor of the Kearsarge, indenting the chain in many places, which explained Captain Semmes's observation of the effect of our shell upon the enemy, "that they struck the sides and fell into the water." Captain Winslow, in his report, states that his ship was struck twenty-five or thirty times, and I doubt if the Alabama was struck a greater number of times. I may not, therefore, be bold in asserting that Kearsarge been protected by her iron cables, the result of the fight would have been different. Captain Semmes felt the more keenly the delusion to which he fell a victim (not knowing that the Kearsarge was chain-clad) from the fact that he was exceeding his instructions in seeking an action with the enemy; but to seek a fight with an iron-clad he conceived to be an unpardonable error.
However, he had the satisfaction of knowing she was classed as a wooden gun-boat by the Federal Government; also that he had inspected her with most excellent glasses, and so far as outward appearances showed she displayed no chain armor. At the same time it must be admitted that Captain Winslow had the right unquestionably to protect his ship and crew. In justice to Captain Semmes I will state that the battle would never have been fought had he known that the Kearsarge wore an armor of chain beneath her outer covering. Thus was the Alabama lost by an error, if you please, but, it must be admitted, a most pardonable one, and not until "Father Neptune" claimed her as his own did she lower her colors.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/cruise-and-combat.html
Monday, June 19, 1865: General Robert S. Granger declares Emancipation Day in Texas, the date when all Negroes are officially set free. Now celebrated as Juneteenth.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186506
FYI SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Franklin BriantCPO William Glen (W.G.) Powell1stSgt Eugene Harless PO3 (Join to see)MSG Greg Kelly CPT (Join to see) LTC Thomas Tennant GySgt Jack Wallace LTC David BrownLTC (Join to see) SFC Eric Harmon SSG Bill McCoySPC (Join to see) MAJ Byron Oyler SSG (Join to see) Sgt Axel HastingA1C Pamela G Russell

Thank you sir for another fine read.

Great pieces of Civil War history again LTC Stephen F.. 1863 gets my vote.