Posted on Jun 22, 2016
What was the most significant event on June 20 during the U.S. Civil War?
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In 1861, Col Thomas J. Jackson [later nicknamed Stonewall] realized he was in enemy territory between Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg because that part of Virginia had voted against secession. He ordered his troops to destroy rail infrastructure in Martinsburg which further enraged the citizens.
On this day Armies were involved in sieges at Port Hudson, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863 and a siege was beginning at Petersburg, Virginia in 1864.
Confederate soldiers were marching and cavalry troops were riding in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and 1863 while Federal soldiers and cavalry troopers were attempting to interdict and engage them while ascertaining what they were up to and what they objectives were.
A Richmond, Virginia newspaper editorial proposes a solution to the confederate draft substitution practice in 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch, bemoaning the nefarious practice of draft substitution, and how many will join for the bounty and then desert, offers a solution: “This evil has become so great that it should be immediately attended to, and some of the base follows summarily dealt with. There are two ways to put an end to the pernicious practice, In the first place, every man who offers to sell himself as a substitute should be looked upon with suspicion, and be arrested on the spot as a deserter, which in nine cases out of ten he will prove to be. Secondly, a few of them should be court-martialed and formally shot. After what has transpired, and the frequent warning given by the press, it would be the height of folly for any soldier to throw his money away upon these infamous scoundrels.”
Death while awaiting orders to be sent home to Massachusetts from Petersburg, Virginia in 1864: The Tenth Massachusetts had been relived from duty at Petersburg, Virginia and ordered to the rear on June 19. As they were waiting to receive the necessary order to report to Massachusetts they suffered their last casualty. Their own account states: “The enemy opened a battery of twenty-pound guns from the opposite bank of the Appomattox, and shelled the Regiment vigorously for some time. Sergeant-Major George F. Polley was struck with one of the missiles, and almost instantly killed. The death of Polley cast a gloom over the home ward trip, which was commenced that day. By gallant conduct and fearlessness, he had become a favorite with the whole Regiment. The regimental history provided these additional details: “A day or two before the regiment was to leave for home, while lying in the trenches before Petersburg, he carved with his knife, upon a wooden head-board, similar to those placed at soldiers graves, the words, "Serg.-Major George F. Polley, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed June,---1864," remarking to the colonel, " I guess I’ll leave the day blank." By advice of his comrades, he split up the board to cook his coffee. The very next day, June 20, 1864, he was instantly killed by a rebel shell, which struck him in the breast, tearing his body to pieces, Colonel Parsons, who was standing nearby, narrowly escaping. He was buried on the field, and a head board, an exact copy of the one he had lettered, marked his grave.”
Hanging a black deserter backfired in 1864: On this date in 1864, the Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
“The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired. The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
Pictures: 1864-06-20 A captured Confederate encampment near Petersburg, Virginia in June of 1864; 1861-06-20 Confederate General Sterling Price “taken with a Violent Diarrhea” at the beginning of the Battle of Boonville Pinterest; 1863 gettysburg-campaign-map-925; 1861-06-20 Jackson destroys the rails on June 20 in Martinsburg, VA
A. 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Colonel Thomas J. Jackson Confederate troops entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
Background: Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence.
Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence.
In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
B. 1863: West Virginia became the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered. At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia.
C. 1863: The citizens of Baltimore, Maryland started to build defenses around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. CSA Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
D. 1864: Lt Gen Ulysses S. Grant decided to besiege Petersburg, Virginia based on the heavy losses the Army of the Potomac had endured. The Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house. When a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
FYI CWO4 Terrence Clark MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter PO3 Edward Riddle MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Byron Hewett CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw COL (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell COL Lisandro Murphy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL] MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Trent Klug CWO3 Dennis M. CPT Kevin McComas]SSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
On this day Armies were involved in sieges at Port Hudson, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863 and a siege was beginning at Petersburg, Virginia in 1864.
Confederate soldiers were marching and cavalry troops were riding in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and 1863 while Federal soldiers and cavalry troopers were attempting to interdict and engage them while ascertaining what they were up to and what they objectives were.
A Richmond, Virginia newspaper editorial proposes a solution to the confederate draft substitution practice in 1862: The Richmond Daily Dispatch, bemoaning the nefarious practice of draft substitution, and how many will join for the bounty and then desert, offers a solution: “This evil has become so great that it should be immediately attended to, and some of the base follows summarily dealt with. There are two ways to put an end to the pernicious practice, In the first place, every man who offers to sell himself as a substitute should be looked upon with suspicion, and be arrested on the spot as a deserter, which in nine cases out of ten he will prove to be. Secondly, a few of them should be court-martialed and formally shot. After what has transpired, and the frequent warning given by the press, it would be the height of folly for any soldier to throw his money away upon these infamous scoundrels.”
Death while awaiting orders to be sent home to Massachusetts from Petersburg, Virginia in 1864: The Tenth Massachusetts had been relived from duty at Petersburg, Virginia and ordered to the rear on June 19. As they were waiting to receive the necessary order to report to Massachusetts they suffered their last casualty. Their own account states: “The enemy opened a battery of twenty-pound guns from the opposite bank of the Appomattox, and shelled the Regiment vigorously for some time. Sergeant-Major George F. Polley was struck with one of the missiles, and almost instantly killed. The death of Polley cast a gloom over the home ward trip, which was commenced that day. By gallant conduct and fearlessness, he had become a favorite with the whole Regiment. The regimental history provided these additional details: “A day or two before the regiment was to leave for home, while lying in the trenches before Petersburg, he carved with his knife, upon a wooden head-board, similar to those placed at soldiers graves, the words, "Serg.-Major George F. Polley, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed June,---1864," remarking to the colonel, " I guess I’ll leave the day blank." By advice of his comrades, he split up the board to cook his coffee. The very next day, June 20, 1864, he was instantly killed by a rebel shell, which struck him in the breast, tearing his body to pieces, Colonel Parsons, who was standing nearby, narrowly escaping. He was buried on the field, and a head board, an exact copy of the one he had lettered, marked his grave.”
Hanging a black deserter backfired in 1864: On this date in 1864, the Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
“The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired. The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
Pictures: 1864-06-20 A captured Confederate encampment near Petersburg, Virginia in June of 1864; 1861-06-20 Confederate General Sterling Price “taken with a Violent Diarrhea” at the beginning of the Battle of Boonville Pinterest; 1863 gettysburg-campaign-map-925; 1861-06-20 Jackson destroys the rails on June 20 in Martinsburg, VA
A. 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Colonel Thomas J. Jackson Confederate troops entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
Background: Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence.
Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence.
In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
B. 1863: West Virginia became the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered. At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia.
C. 1863: The citizens of Baltimore, Maryland started to build defenses around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. CSA Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
D. 1864: Lt Gen Ulysses S. Grant decided to besiege Petersburg, Virginia based on the heavy losses the Army of the Potomac had endured. The Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house. When a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
FYI CWO4 Terrence Clark MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SMSgt Lawrence McCarter PO3 Edward Riddle MAJ Roland McDonald SSG Byron Hewett CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw COL (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell COL Lisandro Murphy SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL] MAJ Ken Landgren LTC Trent Klug CWO3 Dennis M. CPT Kevin McComas]SSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
Civil War
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American History
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In the civil war as in wars prior to and since, soldiers who were on the march did not receive mail and frequently supplies and rations on time. It could take many days for mail to catch up; but, thankfully in the Union Army food was more timely.
1863-06-20 Federal Army of the Potomac prepares to cross the Potomac at Edwards Ferry.
0800: General Henry Slocum, commanding XII Corps, reiterates his points for the defense of Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route. forts and canal. He also warns of CSA Maj Gen Ewell’s presence at Winchester, Virginia.
0900: Captain Spaulding, engineer in charge at the mouth of the Monocacy, estimates the river at that spot 1,500 feet wide. He requests fifteen extra boats and other equipment.
1720: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, orders Captain C.N. Turnbull, engineer officer at Edwards Ferry, to complete one pontoon bridge across the Potomac. He is also to set aside bridging materials to cross Goose Creek, with a suggested point near the Leesburg – Alexandria Turnpike.
1920: Turnbull acknowledges orders. However, he measures the river at 1,400 feet but reports having only 1,200 feet of bridge. Furthermore, the river has risen two feet during the day. Turnbull coordinates with General Henry Benham, commanding the Engineer Brigade, for additional support. Signing off with, “Will go ahead and do the best I can.”
1920: Butterfield then requests from Turnbull estimates of the river width at Noland’s and Hauling Fords (both upstream). Relates that General Hooker does not want the bridge at Edwards Ferry if the length is 1,400 feet.
Afterwards:
June 21 @ 1145: Turnbull reports the pontoon bridge was completed at around 0945 hrs. The length is just short of the prohibited length – 1,340 feet.
June 22 @ 1200: Butterfield relates that General Wadsworth is placing a bridge over Goose Creek at the turnpike, and asks Turnbull about bridging the creek near its mouth. Turnbull responds he can bridge the creek anywhere up to a half mile from the mouth. Turnbull also relates that a road can be made from XI Corps headquarters to Edwards Ferry.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Friday, June 20, 1862: Katherine Prescott Wormeley writes home to her mother about an incident in nursing the wounded and sick soldiers: “This afternoon, as I was attending to some men in the Sibley tents, I came upon one of the exhortative kind, who often afford us much amusement. He made a rapid survey of the history of the world, to prove that no women had ever done as we were doing, no men had ever been succored as they were succored. Whether he was out of his mind, or simply one of the irrepressible, I could not tell; but he looked so funny, declaiming in his hospital rig, that I slipped out of the tent, convulsed with laughter, — for which I felt sorry, and rather ashamed, a moment later, when I saw the tears in the eyes of a gentleman, new to the work, who was with me. But we must either laugh or cry; and this work teaches us that we had better laugh, if we mean to be good for anything.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Wisconsin artilleryman in the trenches before Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the artillery duel there on this date: “Before Vicksburg, Saturday, June 20. Awakened this morning by lively reveille from the muzzle of the 9-inch columbiads which opened at 9 A. M., followed by the 30-pound Parrott, then light battery, and a continued crash from all points for six hours, when, at 10 A. M. firing ceased. Whether the stronghold was weakened or not by the process is not known. Our piece alone threw two hundred rounds. The two regiments of infantry were posted in the rear during the fighting. Logan’s men on the enemy’s works digging. Three horses wounded and one negro in the evening from sharp-shooters.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, writes in his journal of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts haranguing against Gen. Joseph Hooker, and why the Army ought to be rid of him: “Sumner’s opinion and estimate of men does not agree with Chase’s. Sumner expresses an absolute want of confidence in Hooker; says he knows him to be a blasphemous wretch; that after crossing the Rappahannock and reaching Centerville, Hooker exultingly exclaimed, “The enemy is in my power, and God Almighty cannot deprive me of them.” I have heard before of this, but not so direct and positive. The sudden paralysis that followed, when the army in the midst of a successful career was suddenly checked and commenced its retreat, has never been explained. Whiskey is said by Sumner to have done the work. The President said if Hooker had been killed by the shot which knocked over the pillar that stunned him, we should have been successful.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a young officer in the XI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, writes home while he is on the march in northern Virginia, as the Federal army begins to pursue Gen. Lee: “I am perfectly well, and was never better in my life. In regard to the position of our Army, I shall say but little, as this letter might be captured. The corps are mostly round about this country, however.
I have not heard from home for some eight or nine days. We have not been able to get our mails, on account of our frequent marches.
A correspondent of the New York Tribune has been arrested this morning for publishing the movements of the different corps. . . .”
Pictures: 1861-06-20 Jackson Commandeers the Railroad in Martinsburg, VA; 1864-06-20 William Johnson hanging 3 small; 1863 Gettysburg Campaign Map; 1863-06-20 The Union Army at Edwards Ferry - Harpers Weekly
A. Thursday, June 20, 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Colonel Thomas J. Jackson Confederate troops entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
Background: Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence.
Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence.
In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
B. Saturday, June 20, 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered. At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia.
C. Saturday, June 20, 1863: The citizens of Baltimore, Maryland started to build defenses around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. CSA Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
Reports of such excesses troubled Lee. On 27 June, he issued General Orders 73 chastising his soldiers for their “instances of forgetfulness” and reminding them of the “duties expected of us by civility and Christianity.” Still, even before Lee’s entire army had crossed into Pennsylvania, wagon trains loaded with foodstuffs and other goods began heading south. In addition, reported the Chambersburg editor, “Quite a number of negroes, free and slave—men, women and children—were captured by Jenkins and started south to be sold into bondage.”
D. Monday, June 20, 1864: Lt Gen Ulysses S. Grant decided to besiege Petersburg, Virginia based on the heavy losses the Army of the Potomac had endured. The Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
“The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired. The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
1. Thursday, June 20, 1861: Confederate forces in Missouri gathered in the south of the state away from Lyon’s men.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1861/
2. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- Katherine Prescott Wormeley writes home to her mother about an incident in nursing the wounded and sick soldiers: “This afternoon, as I was attending to some men in the Sibley tents, I came upon one of the exhortative kind, who often afford us much amusement. He made a rapid survey of the history of the world, to prove that no women had ever done as we were doing, no men had ever been succored as they were succored. Whether he was out of his mind, or simply one of the irrepressible, I could not tell; but he looked so funny, declaiming in his hospital rig, that I slipped out of the tent, convulsed with laughter, — for which I felt sorry, and rather ashamed, a moment later, when I saw the tears in the eyes of a gentleman, new to the work, who was with me. But we must either laugh or cry; and this work teaches us that we had better laugh, if we mean to be good for anything.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
3. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- The Richmond Daily Dispatch, bemoaning the nefarious practice of draft substitution, and how many will join for the bounty and then desert, offers a solution: “This evil has become so great that it should be immediately attended to, and some of the base follows summarily dealt with. There are two ways to put an end to the pernicious practice, In the first place, every man who offers to sell himself as a substitute should be looked upon with suspicion, and be arrested on the spot as a deserter, which in nine cases out of ten he will prove to be. Secondly, a few of them should be court-martialed and formally shot. After what has transpired, and the frequent warning given by the press, it would be the height of folly for any soldier to throw his money away upon these infamous scoundrels.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
4. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- Being frustrated by Beauregard’s continual retreating, Pres. Davis finds an opportunity to relieve the Creole of his command, since Beauregard has taken a leave of absence for his health. Davis relieves Beauregard and promotes Braxton Bragg to command of the Confederate army in the western theater.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
5. Friday, June 20, 1862: A Federal expedition was underway from Baton Rouge, Louisiana towards Vicksburg, Mississippi, comprised of 3,000 men under command of Brigadier General Thomas Williams.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
6. Friday, June 20, 1862: Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn assumed command of the Department of Southern Mississippi and East Louisiana, charged with the defense of the Mississippi River.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
7. Friday, June 20, 1862: Skirmishes occurred at Bayou des Allemands, Louisiana; and near New Bridge and at Gill’s Bluff on the James River in Virginia. Guerrilla activity occurred in Owen County, Kentucky over a period of several days.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
8. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 29
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
9. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 24
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
10. 1863-06-20 Federal Army of the Potomac prepares to cross the Potomac at Edwards Ferry.
June 20 @ 0800: General Henry Slocum, commanding XII Corps, reiterates his points from the 19th for the defense of Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route. forts and canal. Also warns of Ewell’s presence at Winchester.
June 20 @ 0900: Captain Spaulding, engineer in charge at the mouth of the Monocacy, estimates the river at that spot 1,500 feet wide. He requests fifteen extra boats and other equipment.
June 20 @1720: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, orders Captain C.N. Turnbull, engineer officer at Edwards Ferry, to complete one pontoon bridge across the Potomac. He is also to set aside bridging materials to cross Goose Creek, with a suggested point near the Leesburg – Alexandria Turnpike.
June 20 @ 1920: Turnbull acknowledges orders. However, he measures the river at 1,400 feet but reports having only 1,200 feet of bridge. Furthermore, the river has risen two feet during the day. Turnbull coordinates with General Henry Benham, commanding the Engineer Brigade, for additional support. Signing off with, “Will go ahead and do the best I can.”
June 20 @ 1920: Butterfield then requests from Turnbull estimates of the river width at Noland’s and Hauling Fords (both upstream). Relates that General Hooker does not want the bridge at Edwards Ferry if the length is 1,400 feet.
Background:
June 16 @ 1715: Brig Gen Gouverneur Kemble Warren, Army of the Potomac Chief Engineer, while providing a summary of river crossing points, noted Edwards Ferry was a favorable spot for pontoon bridging (he estimated 700 feet). However, this report is a survey of several crossing points, with Edwards Ferry evaluated favorably along with others.
June 19 @ 1200: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, responds wishing to know why Edwards Ferry is the right place for any pontoon bridge.
June 19 @ about 1500: Slocum responds with his logic. Existing fortification defend Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route.
June 19 @ about 1500: Two orders from Butterfield. Orders engineers from Harpers Ferry to the Mouth of the Monocacy. Orders materials sent to Edwards Ferry, but held in readiness only.
June 19 @ 2130: Butterfield backs up those orders with a dispatch to Slocum, advising on the status of the bridging materials. Further he sends an order directly to General Tyler at Sandy Hook (Harpers Ferry), Maryland, referencing the engineers called for.
Afterwards:
June 21 @ 1145: Turnbull reports the pontoon bridge was completed at around 0945 hrs. The length is just short of the prohibited length – 1,340 feet.
June 22 @ 1200: Butterfield relates that General Wadsworth is placing a bridge over Goose Creek at the turnpike, and asks Turnbull about bridging the creek near its mouth. Turnbull responds he can bridge the creek anywhere up to a half mile from the mouth. Turnbull also relates that a road can be made from XI Corps headquarters to Edwards Ferry.
https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/edwards-ferry-timeline-pt1/
11. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Wisconsin artilleryman in the trenches before Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the artillery duel there on this date: “Before Vicksburg, Saturday, June 20. Awakened this morning by lively reveille from the muzzle of the 9-inch columbiads which opened at 9 A. M., followed by the 30-pound Parrott, then light battery, and a continued crash from all points for six hours, when, at 10 A. M. firing ceased. Whether the stronghold was weakened or not by the process is not known. Our piece alone threw two hundred rounds. The two regiments of infantry were posted in the rear during the fighting. Logan’s men on the enemy’s works digging. Three horses wounded and one negro in the evening from sharp-shooters.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
12. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, writes in his journal of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts haranguing against Gen. Joseph Hooker, and why the Army ought to be rid of him: “Sumner’s opinion and estimate of men does not agree with Chase’s. Sumner expresses an absolute want of confidence in Hooker; says he knows him to be a blasphemous wretch; that after crossing the Rappahannock and reaching Centerville, Hooker exultingly exclaimed, “The enemy is in my power, and God Almighty cannot deprive me of them.” I have heard before of this, but not so direct and positive. The sudden paralysis that followed, when the army in the midst of a successful career was suddenly checked and commenced its retreat, has never been explained. Whiskey is said by Sumner to have done the work. The President said if Hooker had been killed by the shot which knocked over the pillar that stunned him, we should have been successful.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
13. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Stephen Minot Weld, a young officer in the XI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, writes home while he is on the march in northern Virginia, as the Federal army begins to pursue Gen. Lee: “I am perfectly well, and was never better in my life. In regard to the position of our Army, I shall say but little, as this letter might be captured. The corps are mostly round about this country, however.
I have not heard from home for some eight or nine days. We have not been able to get our mails, on account of our frequent marches.
A correspondent of the New York Tribune has been arrested this morning for publishing the movements of the different corps. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
14. Monday, June 20, 1864: On Sunday, June 19, the Tenth was relieved and ordered to the rear. The next day as they were waiting to receive the necessary order to report to Massachusetts. It was here they suffered their last casualty. Their own account states: “The enemy opened a battery of twenty-pound guns from the opposite bank of the Appomattox, and shelled the Regiment vigorously for some time. Sergeant-Major George F. Polley was struck with one of the missiles, and almost instantly killed. The death of Polley cast a gloom over the home ward trip, which was commenced that day. By gallant conduct and fearlessness, he had become a favorite with the whole Regiment. The regimental history provided these additional details: “A day or two before the regiment was to leave for home, while lying in the trenches before Petersburg, he carved with his knife ,upon a wooden head-board, similar to those placed at soldiers graves, the words, "Serg.-Major George F. Polley, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed June,---1864," remarking to the colonel, " I guess I’ll leave the day blank." By advice of his comrades, he split up the board to cook his coffee. The very next day, June 20, 1864, he was instantly killed by a rebel shell, which struck him in the breast, tearing his body to pieces, Colonel Parsons, who was standing near by, narrowly escaping. He was buried on the field, and a head board, an exact copy of the one he had lettered, marked his grave.”
http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2014/05/post_7.html
A Thursday, June 20, 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence. Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence. In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
Additional Confederate troops under Jackson's command entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Martinsburg_Virginia_During_the_Civil_War
B Saturday, June 20, 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186306
B+ Saturday, June 20, 1863: At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia, officially designated and accepted as the thirty fifth state of the Union on June 20, 1863.
https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm
C Saturday, June 20, 1863: The citizens of Baltimore started to build defences around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1863/
C+ Saturday, June 20, 1863: Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
Reports of such excesses troubled Lee. On 27 June, he issued General Orders 73 chastising his soldiers for their “instances of forgetfulness” and reminding them of the “duties expected of us by civility and Christianity.” Still, even before Lee’s entire army had crossed into Pennsylvania, wagon trains loaded with foodstuffs and other goods began heading south. In addition, reported the Chambersburg editor, “Quite a number of negroes, free and slave—men, women and children—were captured by Jenkins and started south to be sold into bondage.”
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-10/CMH_Pub_75-10.pdf
D Monday, June 20, 1864: Grant decided to besiege Petersburg. He concluded that even the Army of the Potomac could not sustain further heavy losses.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1864/
D+ Monday, June 20, 1864: On this date in 1864, the Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired.
The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/06/20/1864-william-johnson-bad-example/
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
1863-06-20 Federal Army of the Potomac prepares to cross the Potomac at Edwards Ferry.
0800: General Henry Slocum, commanding XII Corps, reiterates his points for the defense of Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route. forts and canal. He also warns of CSA Maj Gen Ewell’s presence at Winchester, Virginia.
0900: Captain Spaulding, engineer in charge at the mouth of the Monocacy, estimates the river at that spot 1,500 feet wide. He requests fifteen extra boats and other equipment.
1720: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, orders Captain C.N. Turnbull, engineer officer at Edwards Ferry, to complete one pontoon bridge across the Potomac. He is also to set aside bridging materials to cross Goose Creek, with a suggested point near the Leesburg – Alexandria Turnpike.
1920: Turnbull acknowledges orders. However, he measures the river at 1,400 feet but reports having only 1,200 feet of bridge. Furthermore, the river has risen two feet during the day. Turnbull coordinates with General Henry Benham, commanding the Engineer Brigade, for additional support. Signing off with, “Will go ahead and do the best I can.”
1920: Butterfield then requests from Turnbull estimates of the river width at Noland’s and Hauling Fords (both upstream). Relates that General Hooker does not want the bridge at Edwards Ferry if the length is 1,400 feet.
Afterwards:
June 21 @ 1145: Turnbull reports the pontoon bridge was completed at around 0945 hrs. The length is just short of the prohibited length – 1,340 feet.
June 22 @ 1200: Butterfield relates that General Wadsworth is placing a bridge over Goose Creek at the turnpike, and asks Turnbull about bridging the creek near its mouth. Turnbull responds he can bridge the creek anywhere up to a half mile from the mouth. Turnbull also relates that a road can be made from XI Corps headquarters to Edwards Ferry.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Friday, June 20, 1862: Katherine Prescott Wormeley writes home to her mother about an incident in nursing the wounded and sick soldiers: “This afternoon, as I was attending to some men in the Sibley tents, I came upon one of the exhortative kind, who often afford us much amusement. He made a rapid survey of the history of the world, to prove that no women had ever done as we were doing, no men had ever been succored as they were succored. Whether he was out of his mind, or simply one of the irrepressible, I could not tell; but he looked so funny, declaiming in his hospital rig, that I slipped out of the tent, convulsed with laughter, — for which I felt sorry, and rather ashamed, a moment later, when I saw the tears in the eyes of a gentleman, new to the work, who was with me. But we must either laugh or cry; and this work teaches us that we had better laugh, if we mean to be good for anything.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Wisconsin artilleryman in the trenches before Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the artillery duel there on this date: “Before Vicksburg, Saturday, June 20. Awakened this morning by lively reveille from the muzzle of the 9-inch columbiads which opened at 9 A. M., followed by the 30-pound Parrott, then light battery, and a continued crash from all points for six hours, when, at 10 A. M. firing ceased. Whether the stronghold was weakened or not by the process is not known. Our piece alone threw two hundred rounds. The two regiments of infantry were posted in the rear during the fighting. Logan’s men on the enemy’s works digging. Three horses wounded and one negro in the evening from sharp-shooters.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, writes in his journal of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts haranguing against Gen. Joseph Hooker, and why the Army ought to be rid of him: “Sumner’s opinion and estimate of men does not agree with Chase’s. Sumner expresses an absolute want of confidence in Hooker; says he knows him to be a blasphemous wretch; that after crossing the Rappahannock and reaching Centerville, Hooker exultingly exclaimed, “The enemy is in my power, and God Almighty cannot deprive me of them.” I have heard before of this, but not so direct and positive. The sudden paralysis that followed, when the army in the midst of a successful career was suddenly checked and commenced its retreat, has never been explained. Whiskey is said by Sumner to have done the work. The President said if Hooker had been killed by the shot which knocked over the pillar that stunned him, we should have been successful.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863: Stephen Minot Weld, a young officer in the XI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, writes home while he is on the march in northern Virginia, as the Federal army begins to pursue Gen. Lee: “I am perfectly well, and was never better in my life. In regard to the position of our Army, I shall say but little, as this letter might be captured. The corps are mostly round about this country, however.
I have not heard from home for some eight or nine days. We have not been able to get our mails, on account of our frequent marches.
A correspondent of the New York Tribune has been arrested this morning for publishing the movements of the different corps. . . .”
Pictures: 1861-06-20 Jackson Commandeers the Railroad in Martinsburg, VA; 1864-06-20 William Johnson hanging 3 small; 1863 Gettysburg Campaign Map; 1863-06-20 The Union Army at Edwards Ferry - Harpers Weekly
A. Thursday, June 20, 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Colonel Thomas J. Jackson Confederate troops entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
Background: Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence.
Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence.
In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
B. Saturday, June 20, 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered. At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia.
C. Saturday, June 20, 1863: The citizens of Baltimore, Maryland started to build defenses around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. CSA Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
Reports of such excesses troubled Lee. On 27 June, he issued General Orders 73 chastising his soldiers for their “instances of forgetfulness” and reminding them of the “duties expected of us by civility and Christianity.” Still, even before Lee’s entire army had crossed into Pennsylvania, wagon trains loaded with foodstuffs and other goods began heading south. In addition, reported the Chambersburg editor, “Quite a number of negroes, free and slave—men, women and children—were captured by Jenkins and started south to be sold into bondage.”
D. Monday, June 20, 1864: Lt Gen Ulysses S. Grant decided to besiege Petersburg, Virginia based on the heavy losses the Army of the Potomac had endured. The Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
“The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired. The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.”
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
1. Thursday, June 20, 1861: Confederate forces in Missouri gathered in the south of the state away from Lyon’s men.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1861/
2. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- Katherine Prescott Wormeley writes home to her mother about an incident in nursing the wounded and sick soldiers: “This afternoon, as I was attending to some men in the Sibley tents, I came upon one of the exhortative kind, who often afford us much amusement. He made a rapid survey of the history of the world, to prove that no women had ever done as we were doing, no men had ever been succored as they were succored. Whether he was out of his mind, or simply one of the irrepressible, I could not tell; but he looked so funny, declaiming in his hospital rig, that I slipped out of the tent, convulsed with laughter, — for which I felt sorry, and rather ashamed, a moment later, when I saw the tears in the eyes of a gentleman, new to the work, who was with me. But we must either laugh or cry; and this work teaches us that we had better laugh, if we mean to be good for anything.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
3. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- The Richmond Daily Dispatch, bemoaning the nefarious practice of draft substitution, and how many will join for the bounty and then desert, offers a solution: “This evil has become so great that it should be immediately attended to, and some of the base follows summarily dealt with. There are two ways to put an end to the pernicious practice, In the first place, every man who offers to sell himself as a substitute should be looked upon with suspicion, and be arrested on the spot as a deserter, which in nine cases out of ten he will prove to be. Secondly, a few of them should be court-martialed and formally shot. After what has transpired, and the frequent warning given by the press, it would be the height of folly for any soldier to throw his money away upon these infamous scoundrels.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
4. Friday, June 20, 1862 --- Being frustrated by Beauregard’s continual retreating, Pres. Davis finds an opportunity to relieve the Creole of his command, since Beauregard has taken a leave of absence for his health. Davis relieves Beauregard and promotes Braxton Bragg to command of the Confederate army in the western theater.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1862
5. Friday, June 20, 1862: A Federal expedition was underway from Baton Rouge, Louisiana towards Vicksburg, Mississippi, comprised of 3,000 men under command of Brigadier General Thomas Williams.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
6. Friday, June 20, 1862: Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn assumed command of the Department of Southern Mississippi and East Louisiana, charged with the defense of the Mississippi River.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
7. Friday, June 20, 1862: Skirmishes occurred at Bayou des Allemands, Louisiana; and near New Bridge and at Gill’s Bluff on the James River in Virginia. Guerrilla activity occurred in Owen County, Kentucky over a period of several days.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1294
8. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 29
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
9. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 24
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
10. 1863-06-20 Federal Army of the Potomac prepares to cross the Potomac at Edwards Ferry.
June 20 @ 0800: General Henry Slocum, commanding XII Corps, reiterates his points from the 19th for the defense of Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route. forts and canal. Also warns of Ewell’s presence at Winchester.
June 20 @ 0900: Captain Spaulding, engineer in charge at the mouth of the Monocacy, estimates the river at that spot 1,500 feet wide. He requests fifteen extra boats and other equipment.
June 20 @1720: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, orders Captain C.N. Turnbull, engineer officer at Edwards Ferry, to complete one pontoon bridge across the Potomac. He is also to set aside bridging materials to cross Goose Creek, with a suggested point near the Leesburg – Alexandria Turnpike.
June 20 @ 1920: Turnbull acknowledges orders. However, he measures the river at 1,400 feet but reports having only 1,200 feet of bridge. Furthermore, the river has risen two feet during the day. Turnbull coordinates with General Henry Benham, commanding the Engineer Brigade, for additional support. Signing off with, “Will go ahead and do the best I can.”
June 20 @ 1920: Butterfield then requests from Turnbull estimates of the river width at Noland’s and Hauling Fords (both upstream). Relates that General Hooker does not want the bridge at Edwards Ferry if the length is 1,400 feet.
Background:
June 16 @ 1715: Brig Gen Gouverneur Kemble Warren, Army of the Potomac Chief Engineer, while providing a summary of river crossing points, noted Edwards Ferry was a favorable spot for pontoon bridging (he estimated 700 feet). However, this report is a survey of several crossing points, with Edwards Ferry evaluated favorably along with others.
June 19 @ 1200: Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Army of the Potomac Chief of Staff, responds wishing to know why Edwards Ferry is the right place for any pontoon bridge.
June 19 @ about 1500: Slocum responds with his logic. Existing fortification defend Edwards Ferry. The site offers access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as a supply route.
June 19 @ about 1500: Two orders from Butterfield. Orders engineers from Harpers Ferry to the Mouth of the Monocacy. Orders materials sent to Edwards Ferry, but held in readiness only.
June 19 @ 2130: Butterfield backs up those orders with a dispatch to Slocum, advising on the status of the bridging materials. Further he sends an order directly to General Tyler at Sandy Hook (Harpers Ferry), Maryland, referencing the engineers called for.
Afterwards:
June 21 @ 1145: Turnbull reports the pontoon bridge was completed at around 0945 hrs. The length is just short of the prohibited length – 1,340 feet.
June 22 @ 1200: Butterfield relates that General Wadsworth is placing a bridge over Goose Creek at the turnpike, and asks Turnbull about bridging the creek near its mouth. Turnbull responds he can bridge the creek anywhere up to a half mile from the mouth. Turnbull also relates that a road can be made from XI Corps headquarters to Edwards Ferry.
https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/edwards-ferry-timeline-pt1/
11. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Wisconsin artilleryman in the trenches before Vicksburg, writes in his journal of the artillery duel there on this date: “Before Vicksburg, Saturday, June 20. Awakened this morning by lively reveille from the muzzle of the 9-inch columbiads which opened at 9 A. M., followed by the 30-pound Parrott, then light battery, and a continued crash from all points for six hours, when, at 10 A. M. firing ceased. Whether the stronghold was weakened or not by the process is not known. Our piece alone threw two hundred rounds. The two regiments of infantry were posted in the rear during the fighting. Logan’s men on the enemy’s works digging. Three horses wounded and one negro in the evening from sharp-shooters.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
12. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, writes in his journal of Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts haranguing against Gen. Joseph Hooker, and why the Army ought to be rid of him: “Sumner’s opinion and estimate of men does not agree with Chase’s. Sumner expresses an absolute want of confidence in Hooker; says he knows him to be a blasphemous wretch; that after crossing the Rappahannock and reaching Centerville, Hooker exultingly exclaimed, “The enemy is in my power, and God Almighty cannot deprive me of them.” I have heard before of this, but not so direct and positive. The sudden paralysis that followed, when the army in the midst of a successful career was suddenly checked and commenced its retreat, has never been explained. Whiskey is said by Sumner to have done the work. The President said if Hooker had been killed by the shot which knocked over the pillar that stunned him, we should have been successful.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
13. Saturday, June 20, 1863 --- Stephen Minot Weld, a young officer in the XI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, writes home while he is on the march in northern Virginia, as the Federal army begins to pursue Gen. Lee: “I am perfectly well, and was never better in my life. In regard to the position of our Army, I shall say but little, as this letter might be captured. The corps are mostly round about this country, however.
I have not heard from home for some eight or nine days. We have not been able to get our mails, on account of our frequent marches.
A correspondent of the New York Tribune has been arrested this morning for publishing the movements of the different corps. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+20%2C+1863
14. Monday, June 20, 1864: On Sunday, June 19, the Tenth was relieved and ordered to the rear. The next day as they were waiting to receive the necessary order to report to Massachusetts. It was here they suffered their last casualty. Their own account states: “The enemy opened a battery of twenty-pound guns from the opposite bank of the Appomattox, and shelled the Regiment vigorously for some time. Sergeant-Major George F. Polley was struck with one of the missiles, and almost instantly killed. The death of Polley cast a gloom over the home ward trip, which was commenced that day. By gallant conduct and fearlessness, he had become a favorite with the whole Regiment. The regimental history provided these additional details: “A day or two before the regiment was to leave for home, while lying in the trenches before Petersburg, he carved with his knife ,upon a wooden head-board, similar to those placed at soldiers graves, the words, "Serg.-Major George F. Polley, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed June,---1864," remarking to the colonel, " I guess I’ll leave the day blank." By advice of his comrades, he split up the board to cook his coffee. The very next day, June 20, 1864, he was instantly killed by a rebel shell, which struck him in the breast, tearing his body to pieces, Colonel Parsons, who was standing near by, narrowly escaping. He was buried on the field, and a head board, an exact copy of the one he had lettered, marked his grave.”
http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2014/05/post_7.html
A Thursday, June 20, 1861: Destruction of rail infrastructure in Martinsburg, VA. Within a week of the convention's vote, Confederate troops, including Virginia militia units from the southern Shenandoah Valley, entered Martinsburg en route to the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. On May 23, the date set aside for a statewide referendum on secession, residents staged a public protest of secession and the Confederate presence. Tensions became so heated that the Confederate commander, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson, dispatched additional troops to Martinsburg from Harpers Ferry to quell any violence. In the meantime, Martinsburg residents voted three-to-one against secession that day—the only locale in the Shenandoah Valley to oppose secession during the referendum.
Additional Confederate troops under Jackson's command entered Martinsburg on June 20 and set about dismantling the railroad, further outraging Unionist residents. In addition to the tracks, the Confederates destroyed the round house, various railroad buildings, fifty-six locomotives, and at least 305 cars. Thirteen locomotives were spared by Jackson and seized for use by the Confederacy.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Martinsburg_Virginia_During_the_Civil_War
B Saturday, June 20, 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state to enter the United States, but the first to enter where the terms slave and free no longer mattered.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186306
B+ Saturday, June 20, 1863: At the culmination of the Wheeling Convention on June 20, 1861, the region that composed the northwestern counties of Virginia broke away from that state to form West Virginia, officially designated and accepted as the thirty fifth state of the Union on June 20, 1863.
https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm
C Saturday, June 20, 1863: The citizens of Baltimore started to build defences around their city fearing an attack by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Cavalry units from both Lee’s and Hooker’s armies clashed almost on a daily basis.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1863/
C+ Saturday, June 20, 1863: Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins’ cavalry brigade scouting ahead of the main column. Jenkins’ horsemen rode into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on 20 June, and two days later, Ewell’s infantry entered the Keystone State near Greencastle.
For the next week, Ewell’s troops scoured south-central Pennsylvania for supplies, advancing as far north as the outskirts of Harrisburg, the state capital. On 21 June, Lee issued General Orders 72, setting forth proper foraging procedures: quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and medical officers were to obtain needed goods at fair market value, and all soldiers must respect private property. Jenkins’ cavalry apparently interpreted the order quite loosely. “Some people, with . . . antiquated ideas of business, might call it stealing to take goods and pay for them in bogus money,” wrote a Chambersburg journalist, “but Jenkins calls it business, and for the time being what Jenkins called business, was business.”
When Ewell’s infantry arrived, they also enjoyed the bounty of the region. Pvt. Gordon Bradwell of the 31st Georgia recalled an issue of “two hindquarters of very fine beef, a barrel or two of flour, some buckets of wine, sugar, clothing, shoes, etc. All this for about twenty men.”
Reports of such excesses troubled Lee. On 27 June, he issued General Orders 73 chastising his soldiers for their “instances of forgetfulness” and reminding them of the “duties expected of us by civility and Christianity.” Still, even before Lee’s entire army had crossed into Pennsylvania, wagon trains loaded with foodstuffs and other goods began heading south. In addition, reported the Chambersburg editor, “Quite a number of negroes, free and slave—men, women and children—were captured by Jenkins and started south to be sold into bondage.”
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-10/CMH_Pub_75-10.pdf
D Monday, June 20, 1864: Grant decided to besiege Petersburg. He concluded that even the Army of the Potomac could not sustain further heavy losses.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-june-1864/
D+ Monday, June 20, 1864: On this date in 1864, the Union army in the American Civil War hanged a black deserter outside Petersburg, Va., for — in the delicate words of the army dispatch — “an attempt to outrage the person of a young lady at the New-Kent Court-house.”
The Union army was just taking up position for the coming months-long siege of the Confederate capital, Richmond. Johnson, who confessed to deserting another unit, offered savvy blue commanders a win-hearts-and-minds opportunity: a public reassurance that the Old Dominion’s dim view of Negro outrages upon young ladies would be honored by its soon-to-be occupiers.
Not bad in theory. The execution left something to be desired.
The field of public relations being very much in its infancy, the upshot of this salutary demonstration seems not to have been conveyed to its target audience; so, when a defending Confederate battery caught sight of the gallows being thrown up in brazen view of its own lines, it jumped to the not-unreasonable conclusion that the Yanks were about to make an example of a southern spy. Rebel guns promptly made the Union detachment their “target audience.” An artillery shot struck one Sgt. Maj. G. F. Polley (or Polly) and “tore him all to pieces” before [a] flag of truce was sent out to inform the enemy that a negro was to be hung who had insulted a white woman the day before; they stopped firing. We then marched back and saw the negro hung.
The return on investment for the souls of Johnson and the misfortunate NCO was altogether unsatisfactory: “The incident was cleverly turned to advantage by the Confederates, who had been losing hundreds of Negro laborers by desertion. The Rebels marched Negroes past the spot, pointing out to them the perils of fleeing their lines, saying that the Yankees hanged all ‘Contrabands.’ For weeks, nocturnal escapes of Negroes ceased on that front.”
http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/06/20/1864-william-johnson-bad-example/
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
American Civil War June 1861 - History Learning Site
June 1861 witnessed the first major casualties of the American Civil War, though nothing like the American Civil War was to experience in later years. June 1st: Union and Confederate forces met at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. Some of the earliest battle casualties took place here with one soldier killed on both sides. June …
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All of the above. Had so many moving peices. Each was so significant most suprising was Gen. Lee being cheered on the streets of Philadelphia.
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