What was the most significant event on September 18 during the U.S. Civil War?

The civil war was the first war in this nation’s history when photography had matured. Because shutter speed was relatively slow there were no action photos of battles; but, since the dead did not move there are many pictures of dead enemy soldiers. In some pictures, it is interesting how far apart the dead are while in others they are close together as in trench defenses or by fences.
In 1863, Bragg’s Rebels Stumble Across The Chickamauga
Confederate General Braxton Bragg was fairly certain that his plans were finally set. He had started, stopped, and started again his Army of Tennessee. Or, rather, he started half of it. Only two corps, under Simon Buckner and W.H.T. Walker, were to cross Chickamauga Creek to attack the Federal left flank. It ignored D.H. Hill’s Corps on the left, Leonidas Polk’s Corp, somewhat in the middle, and the reinforcements arriving not too far away near Ringgold. Fortunately, Bragg quickly turned cold on his new new plan and whipped up a yet another new one before the dawn.
The Confederate reinforcements consisted, thus far, of three brigades. Two were from Joe Johnston’s Army of Relief still hovering somewhere in the Mississippi area, and one was the vanguard of James Longstreet’s Corps from the Army of Northern Virginia. They were placed under an umbrella held by General Bushrod Johnson, and joined by his own brigade, which had previously been part of D.H. Hill’s Corps. Longstreet’s five other brigades were still arriving.
As if he suddenly remembered he had a whole extra division to play with, Bragg altered his plan to include them. Prior to the change, Bushrod Johnson’s only orders were to cross Chickamauga Creek with the aid of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Cavalry. Nothing about a battle was mentioned. But through the stillness of morning, Johnson received new orders. Following his crossing, he was to turn left and “sweep up the Chickamauga, toward Lee and Gordon’s Mills.”
This would be the crux of the flank attack. No longer were Walker and Buckner the spearheads. Johnson’s hastily patched-together division of reinforcements were to pick up Walker and Buckner (both crossing at separate points beyond the Federal flank), and crash into the Union troops. Holding the Yankees in place would be Polk’s Corps, facing them from across Chickamauga Creek. Polk was to join the attack, crossing if he could. This plan was, in short, pretty good.
But it had its problems. First, Bragg set no starting time. Though Johnson’s Provisional Division was already en route, neither Walker nor Buckner had any idea when to make their crossing. And speaking of Walker and Buckner – they were both supposed to cram their respective Corps down the same road to get into position.
These movements had not gone unnoticed. The Federal cavalry under Col. Robert Minty, had spotted Johnson’s advance, and sent troopers across at Reed’s Bridge to contest it. This small contingent held Johnson up for hours as he probed with skirmishers and scouts. He formed a long line of battle while bits
Finally clearing the way, Johnson restarted near the noon hour, as Minty called upon John Wilder’s Mounted Infantry for reinforcements. Wilder had been holding Alexander’s Bridge, the next crossing upstream from the contested Reed’s Bridge. Thus far through the warm dawn, the coming Rebels from Walker’s Corps had not been seen. There had been a slight scrap with some Rebel cavalry on their way to join Forrest, but it was a quiet, though ominous, morning. Soon that would change.
Wilder had flung skirmishers across the bridge, where they were unexpectedly roused by the advance of Walker’s Confederates. Uncertain when exactly to attack, Walker began to move when he learned of the skirmish with the cavalry near to Alexander Bridge. Wilder’s Federals were surprised, but quickly regained composure, holding back the Rebel van, while systematically falling back to the bridge, which they swiftly dismantled.
But it was only a small portion of Walker’s Corps that was attempting to cross. The remainder slid a short distance downstream to exchange shots with more of Wilder’s Yankees from the other side of the Chickamauga. By 3pm, the Federals had almost accidentally managed to block two crossings, holding back upwards of 20,000 Rebels with, perhaps, 3,000 mounted troopers. Only Simon Buckner had crossed. Though it was completely uncontested, he halted immediately after, and waited for Walker and Johnson to appear on this right. But Walker and Johnston would be a long time coming. Both were hotly engaged with the Federals at their respective bridges, neither searched out a better crossing.
It was into this mess that John Bell Hood, division commander in Longstreet’s Corps, arrived. It was 3pm and he had just detrained at Ringgold when he was handed orders from Bragg to push the flank attack onward. But before this could happen, the Federals pulled out. Through a bit of exaggeration, Col. Minty had come to believe that Wilder’s Mounted Infantry had retreated. This was not true, but how was he to know? Since being cut off from the main force would make for a disastrous end to an otherwise successful day, he decided to fall back as well.
In falling back, he came to main Federal line, here under the command of the brash General Wood of Thomas Crittenden’s Corps. At first, Wood didn’t buy it, but decided to humor Col. Minty. Soon, however, he was very convinced that an entire Rebel division was about to make the Federal left an incredibly uncomfortable spot.
Hood, along with Forrest, pushed their troops across Chickamauga Creek and were marching quick. But it was not quick enough. The afternoon had turned to dusk, which had turned thick to darkness. The nightfall was first punctuated by newly-arrived Federal infantry. Then it was peppered. Before long, Hood and Johnson halted. Neither knew the ground well enough to send their division into that dark and tangled mass.
The day was over. Bragg’s half-hearted plan had achieved half-desired results. Through the day, Union General William Rosecrans had tried to concentrate his army near Lee & Gordon’s Mills. While Crittenden was already in place, George Thomas’ and Alexander McCook’s Corps were not. By nightfall, they still wouldn’t be. Through the night, Braxton Bragg would cross another division (from Polk’s Corps) and order D.H. Hill’s Corps to slide to the right as compensation. Neither commander could do much shuffling, and so both more or less agreed to pick up where they left off come dawn the next morning.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/braggs-rebels-stumble-across-the-chickamauga/

Below are several journal entries from 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.

Friday, September 18, 1863: Of the fight this day at the bridges, Col. Wilder writes: “All this talk of generalship displayed on either side is sheer nonsense. There was no generalship in it. It was a soldier's fight purely, wherein the only question involved was the question of endurance. The two armies came together like two wild beats, and each fought as long as it could stand up in a knock-down and drag-out encounter. If there had been any high order of generalship displayed, the disasters to both armies might have been less.”
Friday, September 18, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes this notice on women who have been able to infiltrate the army ranks: “More female Warriors. The female warrior business is not dead yet. A fine looking young woman was arrested in Mobile last week for wearing male apparel. The Tribune says: She stated that she had been fighting and travelling under the cognomen of “Charley Green;”that her father and four brothers enlisted in March, 1861, in New Orleans. She joined the Tiger Rifles, Capt. White, and was with that company in the battle of Manassas, where she says she received a wound in her right side. She says, also, that she was in the battles around Richmond and other places, was taken prisoner, paroled in Illinois, and has since been strolling about from company to company, and was never stopped or interrogated before, which is another evidence of the efficient energy displayed by our Provost-Marshal, Major Dennis, who is determined not to allow anybody to pass without “coming to a showing.” “Charley Green” was taken in and cared for. Several Louisianian called to see her, and, after questioning her for some time, were fully satisfied that she was not a spy, nor disloyal to the country.”
Sunday, September 18, 1864: The daughter of a wealthy McMinnville, Tennessee lawyer/plantation owner, Lucy Virginia French writes in her diary: “Today is the day appointed by [Gov.] Andy Johnson, as the day of thanksgiving and rejoicing over … ‘success of the Federal arms;’—and the military are to be made to give thanks and rejoice at the point of a bayonet! How worthy of the famous, (or rather in-famous) Andy!—McClellan accepts the nomination of the Chicago Convention, but in his letter of acceptance clearly ‘shows his teeth’ in favor of war, viz. unless the South consents to return to the Union….”
I am not sure how he planned to do this, but President Davis in Virginia writes a letter to the Confederate Congressman today, saying that he thought Atlanta could be retaken and “Sherman’s army can be driven out of Georgia, perhaps be utterly destroyed.”

Pictures: 1862-09-18 Burial crew and bodies at Antietam; 1862-09-18 Dead Confederates on the Hagerstown Road; Winter quarters; soldiers in front of their wooden hut, "Pine Cottage" from the National Archives; 1862-09-18 Caring for the wounded at Antietam, 1862

A. Wednesday, September 18, 1861: The Confederates launched a major assault on Lexington, MO. The Union defenders were cut off from their fresh water supplies by Confederate snipers. Lincoln and his cabinet continue to discuss the conduct of Fremont.
All that General Sterling Price had been waiting for was now ready and before him. He and his 10,000 Missouri State Guards had marched from Springfield, following their victorious Battle of Wilson’s Creek, to Lexington, a distance of over 150 miles. His cavalry and infantry out-marched their ammunition trains. The previous evening, they arrived. His troops spent the night preparing for an assault.
A small contingent of 3,500 Union troops under the command of Col. James A. Mulligan, clung to the fortifications around the Masonic College on the north end of town. With the Missouri River to the west, Price needed only to surround the town on three sides to bring it under a siege. Even so, a thin line of troops were placed along the banks of the river and a steamboat captured to ensure that the escape of Mulligan’s force was impossible.
In preparation of the attack, Price’s men tore down houses and other buildings that were in the line of fire, displacing residents, including Col. Mulligan’s wife.
The morning was bright and the sun was already beating down upon the men on both sides. From the Union fortifications, Mulligan could see that the secessionists was ready to make his move. At 10am, the thunder of Price’s sixteen cannons surrounding the Union works on four sides, pierced the thick air, breaking windows in the houses that had been spared.
General Rains, a Brigadier under Sterling Price, marched his men east towards the Union works, passing a battery of artillery. Spying the United States flag defiantly flying atop the college, he offered a gold medal to any artilleryman who could shoot it down. And now, with the flag set as the point of attack, he advanced his brigade, pushing back Union skirmishers along the way.
The Rebel bombardment and advance was met by a tremendous Union cannonade. Most of the Missouri officers dismounted to avoid being picked off by Union sharpshooters. Price, however, remained on his horse, riding up and down his lines, whipping his men into a fanatical frenzy.
To the west, between the Masonic College and the Missouri River, was the Anderson House Hospital, which held as many as 100 Union sick and wounded. Its location on the field of battle made it strategically important. That it was now between the lines, meant that one side or the other would have to attack and hold a hospital. This went against all rules of war. Nevertheless, Col. Mulligan watched as the secessionists advanced towards the building, still flying the hospital flag from its rooftop.
Several land mines, placed along the banks leading up towards the hospital building, exploded as the Missouri troops scrambled through the tall weeds to take the building. As they came forward, the Union troops pulled back towards the inner works near the college, abandoning their water supply. In short order, the hospital was captured by the Rebels.
Inside the hospital, they found the Union sick and wounded, plus a huddle of frightened, escaped slaves in the basement. From the balcony, they could look down into the Union works at the college.
Seeing that the hospital must be retaken, Mulligan asked for volunteers to advance across the 250 yards of open ground. None offered to follow him. He then turned to the company of troops, mostly Irishmen, that he personally raised at the start of the war. To them, he delivered a brilliant speech, touching upon the barbarism that would induce the secessionists to attack a hospital. It must be retaken! He asked if his Irishmen would go where the others refused to go?
Darkness fell over the battlefield, bringing the action to a close. Mulligan and his men still clung to their trenches, but the town was fully surrounded and the two wells within his lines were dry. There were thousands of mouths to feed and hundreds of horses to maintain. Unless he was quickly reinforced, they were finished.
B. Thursday, September 18, 1862: Aftermath of the Antietam Battle. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. The single bloodiest day of the War was over, or at least the shooting part of it was. The Union army wore down the Rebels, and have clearly put an end to Lee’s invasion, thus achieving a strategic victory. On the other hand, the Confederates did parry nearly every blow, and so therefore won a marginal tactical victory.
No one was sure whether the battle was even over. Maj Gen George B. McClellan telegraphed Washington that the chances for the battle continuing were good. But McClellan did not say that he thought his army is too exhausted to carry on the fight---even though he has 23,000 veteran troops in two corps (V and VI) that did not fight at all, and another 12,000 that would arrive later this same day. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee’s army remains in position, apparently in defiance of McClellan, and McClellan is willing to indulge the Rebels.
Miller’s cornfield held 12,000 dead or dying, and thousands of others lay dead or suffered behind trees, in other fields, or along fencerows. In every building for miles around, surgeons, volunteers, farm families and strangers struggled to treat the wounded. Surgery was done on doors removed from their hinges; the survivors were laid on mattresses, tents, the bare ground. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued with skirmishes with McClellan throughout the day, while removing his battered army south of the Potomac River. Lee knowing that McClellan had thousands of reserves, who had not even been used the day before, as McClellan chose to remain braced for another attack. For reasons known only to McClellan, the 36,000 Union men were never used. No decisive impact was made one way or the other except Washington would stay intact and Lee’s drive North was stopped.
C. Friday, September 18, 1863: Final positioning for Chickamauga Creek Battle. In the morning, Confederate Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s division, supported by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Cavalry, crossed west Chickamauga Creek near Reed’s Bridge to attack the Union left flank. Federal Col. Robert Minty, tasked with guarding the approach to Reed’s Bridge with only three cavalry regiments, a battalion of Fourth U.S. Cavalry, and a section of the Chicago Board of Trade battery, delayed the Confederate crossing. At 7:30 a.m., Forrest began a skirmish with Minty a mile east of Reed’s Bridge, opening the Battle of Chickamauga with a fierce fight that continued throughout the afternoon. As Johnson’s superior force advanced, Minty was pushed back toward Reed’s Bridge, where he formed a line to hold off the Confederate assailants. Desperate for reinforcements, Minty called on Col. John T. Wilder, who sent over seven companies of the 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry, the 123rd Illinois Mounted Infantry, and a section of Capt. Eli Lilly’s Battery while in the midst of his own struggle at Alexander’s Bridge. Reinforcements, however, could not hold off Forrest’s cavalry. In one quick onrush, Forrest drove the stubborn Federals over the bridge. Col. John Fulton's Tennesseans pushed across the bridge behind them, still under fire from Minty's men. As the Chicago Board of Trade battery raked the opposing Confederates with canister shot, Forrest’s cavalry forded the creek, and Minty was finally forced to retreat, ending the skirmish that began the Battle of Chickamauga.
Gen. Rosecrans now understood that Bragg intended to strike his army piecemeal, and separately attack Thomas’s corps before Crittenden and McCook can come up to support Thomas, hopefully trapping the Yankees and cutting them off from their escape routes back into Chattanooga. Rosecrans pushes his men on the march, swiftly up the Chickamauga Valley.
D. Sunday, September 18, 1864: Confederate tactical cavalry victory near Martinsburg, WV. Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early, CSA moved from the vicinity of Winchester, VA, against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, near Martinsburg, WV, with a force of 12,000 cavalry troopers against Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s force of 40,000 cavalry troopers. Part of Early’s Confederate force encountered a group of Union cavalry north to the town of Martinsburg and drove them off. Later that night, the Confederates had pulled back to Bunker Hill.

1. Wednesday, September 18, 1850: Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act is passed by Congress
http://blueandgraytrail.com/date/September_18
2. Saturday, September 18, 1858: Fourth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Charleston, Illinois.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/date/September_18
3. Thursday, September 18, 1862: At Antietam, The Enemy Remains; Catching Up With The West. When Confederate General John Bell Hood looked across the fields of Antietam, he saw that the enemy was still there. He, as well as Stonewall Jackson, wished they had retreated. The result of the previous day’s battle – the bloodiest single-day of fighting in the war – was inconclusive. The Federal attacks were met and repulsed in many places. There was even the daring last minute arrival by A.P. Hill’s Division to throw back the final Union assault. But if both sides were still in position, there was no winner, and perhaps the battle was not yet over.
General Robert E. Lee had called together his officers following the last repulse to come to some conclusion over what to do. Attack? Hold? Retreat? Though Stonewall Jackson wanted to attack, it was impossible. One-third of the Army of Northern Virginia was dead or wounded. Retreat, however, was hardly an option. The army was small, but Lee knew that it could hold out against whatever the Federals threw at it.
Union General George McClellan was hoping to rise at dawn to see the enemy crossing the Potomac back to Virginia. His hopes dashed, he shot off a message to Washington, expecting the battle to be renewed. What he neglected to mention was just how that might happen.
His own men, thought the General, were too exhausted to fight. As he ticked down from one corps to the next, he ticked down a list of excuses as to why they could not go into battle. He did, however, have two corps (the Fifth and Sixth – roughly 23,000 men) who were relatively fresh. Another 12,000 were on their way and would arrive in the late morning. By noon, McClellan had 35,000 troops, mostly veterans, who had seen no fighting the previous day. McClellan’s reinforcements alone outnumbered General Lee’s entire standing army.
By the early afternoon, it was clear that neither McClellan nor Lee planned to attack, and a truce was established over the battlefield so that the wounded could be cared for and the dead could be buried.
As the truce wore on, General Lee issued the order that his army would retreat across the Potomac. After darkness came, Lee’s army began their withdrawal. They left behind their dead and their unmovable wounded as they marched through a torrent of rain towards the dividing river.
But Lee was hardly finished. Though he was leaving the field to the enemy, he was not beaten.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/no-fighting-at-sharpsburg-but-the-armies-still-there-catching-up-with-the-west/
4. Thursday, September 18, 1862: Rebels Capture Federal Garrison in Kentucky. As both nations focused upon the campaigns in Northern Virginia and Maryland, the Confederates in the West were on the move. On the same day as Lee and McClellan fought the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General Braxton Bragg captured the Federal garrison at Munfordville, Kentucky.
Bragg had never wanted to deal with the 4,000 Union troops in Munfordville, but owing to the enthusiasm of one of his subordinates, he was forced to move upon it. Without a fight, it was his, but the surrender was a strange one. The Union commander, Col. John Wilder, asked to parlay with Simon Buckner, a Confederate commander whom he had heard was a gentleman. Their meeting consisted of Wilder asking Buckner’s advice and whether the Confederates really had 27,000 men. Buckner assured him that the number was right, but when Wilder decided to surrender, Buckner, gentleman that he was, tried to pursued him not to. He reminded Wilder that if his force could hold out until reinforcements arrived, it was his duty to do so.
Wilder didn’t take long to wave off that odd bit of advice. He would surrender. On this date, his force marched out of Munfordville with their colors flying. Following the surrender, Bragg set aside this day as one of thanksgiving. His plans, however, were still the same.
He wanted to unite with Kirby Smith’s 10,000 or so troops near Lexington for an attack upon Louisville. There was, however, a problem. Opposing Bragg’s Rebel army was the Union Army of the Ohio, under General Don Carlos Buell. They had followed Bragg north from Chattanooga, but had stopped at Bowling Green while Bragg captured Munfordville. For some reason, Bragg assumed Buell would stay put. The Federal commander did not.
Buell assumed that Bragg was heading to Louisville and was about to step off to beat him there in hopes of saving the city. But Bragg had no real intention of going to Louisville.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/no-fighting-at-sharpsburg-but-the-armies-still-there-catching-up-with-the-west/
5. Thursday, September 18, 1862: Grant Aims to Hit Price. Bragg’s command encompassed not only the Confederate forces in Kentucky, but those in Mississippi as well. There, two armies, one under Sterling Price, the other under Earl Van Dorn, were also on the move. What Bragg actually wanted was for Price and Van Dorn to join forces and plunge into Middle Tennessee. The idea was to keep Union reinforcements from Corinth and Memphis from adding to Buell’s numbers.
At first, Van Dorn didn’t like the plan, and wrote to President Davis complaining about it. He asked to be the commander in Mississippi and got it. After trying to convince Price that moving north from Tupelo to Iuka in order to attack Corinth was a bad idea, he realized that Price was right.
As Price moved his army into Iuka, he began to fear attacks from Federals under General Ulysses Grant and William Rosecrans. His fears were soon realized.
On the 17th and 18th, reports had come in that troops under Generals Ord and Rosecrans were descending upon Iuka. But now Van Dorn was urging Price to join him near Rienzi, ten miles south of Corinth, to begin a joint attack against the town. Price was game, but he knew an attack was coming from the northwest. Perhaps if he hurried, his slide to the southwest would save him from a fight.
General Grant had orchestrated a two-pronged attack against Price at Iuka. From the northwest, General Ord would move along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, while General Rosecrans moved around Price’s left flank to hit him from the southwest.
Rosecrans, however, was behind schedule. Ord would have to hold off on his dawn attack until the second prong got into place – hopefully before nightfall on the 19th.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/no-fighting-at-sharpsburg-but-the-armies-still-there-catching-up-with-the-west/
6. Friday, September 18, 1863: Of the fight this day at the bridges, Col. Wilder writes: “All this talk of generalship displayed on either side is sheer nonsense. There was no generalship in it. It was a soldier's fight purely, wherein the only question involved was the question of endurance. The two armies came together like two wild beats, and each fought as long as it could stand up in a knock-down and drag-out encounter. If there had been any high order of generalship displayed, the disasters to both armies might have been less.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+18%2C+1863
7. Friday, September 18, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes this notice on women who have been able to infiltrate the army ranks: “More female Warriors. The female warrior business is not dead yet. A fine looking young woman was arrested in Mobile last week for wearing male apparel. The Tribune says: She stated that she had been fighting and travelling under the cognomen of “Charley Green;”that her father and four brothers enlisted in March, 1861, in New Orleans. She joined the Tiger Rifles, Capt. White, and was with that company in the battle of Manassas, where she says she received a wound in her right side. She says, also, that she was in the battles around Richmond and other places, was taken prisoner, paroled in Illinois, and has since been strolling about from company to company, and was never stopped or interrogated before, which is another evidence of the efficient energy displayed by our Provost-Marshal, Major Dennis, who is determined not to allow anybody to pass without “coming to a showing.” “Charley Green” was taken in and cared for. Several Louisianian called to see her, and, after questioning her for some time, were fully satisfied that she was not a spy, nor disloyal to the country.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+18%2C+1863Thursday,
8. Sunday, September 18, 1864: The daughter of a wealthy McMinnville, Tennessee lawyer/plantation owner, Lucy Virginia French writes in her diary: “Today is the day appointed by [Gov.] Andy Johnson, as the day of thanksgiving and rejoicing over … ‘success of the Federal arms;’—and the military are to be made to give thanks and rejoice at the point of a bayonet! How worthy of the famous, (or rather in-famous) Andy!—McClellan accepts the nomination of the Chicago Convention, but in his letter of acceptance clearly ‘shows his teeth’ in favor of war, viz. unless the South consents to return to the Union….”
I am not sure how he planned to do this, but President Davis in Virginia writes a letter to the Confederate Congressman today, saying that he thought Atlanta could be retaken and “Sherman’s army can be driven out of Georgia, perhaps be utterly destroyed.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-179
9. Friday, September 18, 1863: General Bragg (CSA) issued his orders to attack. As Bragg marched north, his cavalry and infantry fought with Union cavalry and mounted infantry which were armed with Spencer repeating rifles. On the Union side, Rosecrans swung Major General George H. Thomas’ (pictured) men far to the northeast to guard the right flank and the roads to Chattanooga.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-127
10. Friday, September 18, 1863: Chickamauga campaign. Rosecrans [US] orders Thomas north on Layfayette Road in an attempt to outflank Bragg's forces. Georgia
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186309

A Wednesday, September 18, 1861: The Confederates launched a major assault on Lexington, MO. The Union defenders were cut off from their fresh water supplies by Confederate snipers. Lincoln and his cabinet continue to discuss the conduct of Fremont.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-23
A+ Wednesday, September 18, 1861: The Battle of Lexington, Missouri: Rebel Advance and War Crimes. All that General Sterling Price had been waiting for was now ready and before him. He and his 10,000 Missouri State Guards had marched from Springfield, following their victorious Battle of Wilson’s Creek, to Lexington, a distance of over 150 miles. His cavalry and infantry out-marched their ammunition trains. The previous evening, they arrived. His troops spent the night preparing for an assault.
A small contingent of 3,500 Union troops under the command of Col. James A. Mulligan, clung to the fortifications around the Masonic College on the north end of town. With the Missouri River to the west, Price needed only to surround the town on three sides to bring it under a siege. Even so, a thin line of troops were placed along the banks of the river and a steamboat captured to ensure that the escape of Mulligan’s force was impossible.
In preparation of the attack, Price’s men tore down houses and other buildings that were in the line of fire, displacing residents, including Col. Mulligan’s wife.
The morning was bright and the sun was already beating down upon the men on both sides. From the Union fortifications, Mulligan could see that the secessionists was ready to make his move. At 10am, the thunder of Price’s sixteen cannons surrounding the Union works on four sides, pierced the thick air, breaking windows in the houses that had been spared.
General Rains, a Brigadier under Sterling Price, marched his men east towards the Union works, passing a battery of artillery. Spying the United States flag defiantly flying atop the college, he offered a gold medal to any artilleryman who could shoot it down. And now, with the flag set as the point of attack, he advanced his brigade, pushing back Union skirmishers along the way.
The Rebel bombardment and advance was met by a tremendous Union cannonade. Most of the Missouri officers dismounted to avoid being picked off by Union sharpshooters. Price, however, remained on his horse, riding up and down his lines, whipping his men into a fanatical frenzy.
To the west, between the Masonic College and the Missouri River, was the Anderson House Hospital, which held as many as 100 Union sick and wounded. Its location on the field of battle made it strategically important. That it was now between the lines, meant that one side or the other would have to attack and hold a hospital. This went against all rules of war. Nevertheless, Col. Mulligan watched as the secessionists advanced towards the building, still flying the hospital flag from its rooftop.
Several land mines, placed along the banks leading up towards the hospital building, exploded as the Missouri troops scrambled through the tall weeds to take the building. As they came forward, the Union troops pulled back towards the inner works near the college, abandoning their water supply. In short order, the hospital was captured by the Rebels.
Inside the hospital, they found the Union sick and wounded, plus a huddle of frightened, escaped slaves in the basement. From the balcony, they could look down into the Union works at the college.
Seeing that the hospital must be retaken, Mulligan asked for volunteers to advance across the 250 yards of open ground. None offered to follow him. He then turned to the company of troops, mostly Irishmen, that he personally raised at the start of the war. To them, he delivered a brilliant speech, touching upon the barbarism that would induce the secessionists to attack a hospital. It must be retaken! He asked if his Irishmen would go where the others refused to go?
Inspired by their hero, they cheered and fell in for the assault. Also moved by Mulligan’s oration was a company of Germans, who requested that they be allowed to retake the hospital with the Irish. Together, they formed a line of battle, their officers gave the command and they advanced at the double quick. The advance became a mad rush as the Rebels shot from the windows of the hospital. Soon, the hospital was invested. The Missouri troops scattered as the Irish and Germans shot at them over cots and from room to room.
Three Rebels were captured and, after being arrested, were all killed by a merciless bayonet thrust through each. Though this violated the laws of war, it was done as retaliation for the Rebels attacking a hospital.
The heat of the day, combined with the lack of water, made conditions inside the hospital volatile. To slake their thirst, the Union soldiers fought amongst themselves over the bloody water used by the surgeons to clean their instruments.
Missouri forces quickly regrouped and hit the parched Union troops fighting over water in the hospital. As quickly as they attacked, they ran back to the inner works, leaving the hospital in the hands of the Rebels. The escaped slaves, still hiding in the basement, were rounded up and eventually returned to their owners.
Darkness fell over the battlefield, bringing the action to a close. Mulligan and his men still clung to their trenches, but the town was fully surrounded and the two wells within his lines were dry. There were thousands of mouths to feed and hundreds of horses to maintain. Unless he was quickly reinforced, they were finished.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-battle-of-lexington-missouri-rebel-advance-and-war-crimes/
B Thursday, September 18, 1862: During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. The single bloodiest day of the War was over, or at least the shooting part of it was. Miller’s cornfield held 12,000 dead or dying, and thousands of others lay dead or suffered behind trees, in other fields, or along fencerows. In every building for miles around, surgeons, volunteers, farm families and strangers struggled to treat the wounded. Surgery was done on doors removed from their hinges; the survivors were laid on mattresses, tents, the bare ground. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued with skirmishes with McClellan throughout the day, while removing his battered army south of the Potomac River. Lee knowing that McClellan had thousands of reserves, who had not even been used the day before, as McClellan chose to remain braced for another attack. For reasons known only to McClellan, the 36,000 Union men were never used. No decisive impact was made one way or the other except Washington would stay intact and Lee’s drive North was stopped.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-five
B+ Thursday, September 18, 1862: Sharpsburg, Maryland – This morning, both armies on the Antietam battlefield awake to find that yesterday’s battle did not determine a clear winner. The Union army wore down the Rebels, and have clearly put an end to Lee’s invasion, thus achieving a strategic victory. On the other hand, the Confederates did parry nearly every blow, and so therefore won a marginal tactical victory. No one was sure whether the battle was even over. McClellan telegraphed Washington that the chances for the battle continuing were good. But McClellan did not say that he thought his army is too exhausted to carry on the fight---even though he has 23,000 veteran troops in two corps (v AND vi) that did not fight at all, and another 12,000 that would arrive later this same day. Lee’s army remains in position, apparently in defiance of McClellan, and McClellan is willing to indulge the Rebels.
My assessment: Had McClellan attacked with all of his troops, in a coordinated effort, Lee’s lines would have collapsed. Trapped against the Potomac, Lee would have had to surrender, thus bringing the war to an end after only a year and a half of war, instead of the four years it actually lasted.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+18%2C+1862
C Friday, September 18, 1863: Chickamauga Prelude. On the morning of September 18, 1863, Confederate Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s division, supported by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Cavalry, crossed west Chickamauga Creek near Reed’s Bridge to attack the Union left flank. Federal Col. Robert Minty, tasked with guarding the approach to Reed’s Bridge with only three cavalry regiments, a battalion of Fourth U.S. Cavalry, and a section of the Chicago Board of Trade battery, delayed the Confederate crossing. At 7:30 a.m., Forrest began a skirmish with Minty a mile east of Reed’s Bridge, opening the Battle of Chickamauga with a fierce fight that continued throughout the afternoon. As Johnson’s superior force advanced, Minty was pushed back toward Reed’s Bridge, where he formed a line to hold off the Confederate assailants. Desperate for reinforcements, Minty called on Col. John T. Wilder, who sent over seven companies of the 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry, the 123rd Illinois Mounted Infantry, and a section of Capt. Eli Lilly’s Battery while in the midst of his own struggle at Alexander’s Bridge. Reinforcements, however, could not hold off Forrest’s cavalry. In one quick onrush, Forrest drove the stubborn Federals over the bridge. Col. John Fulton's Tennesseans pushed across the bridge behind them, still under fire from Minty's men. As the Chicago Board of Trade battery raked the opposing Confederates with canister shot, Forrest’s cavalry forded the creek, and Minty was finally forced to retreat, ending the skirmish that began the Battle of Chickamauga.
C+ Friday, September 18, 1863: Chickamauga Prelude: On this date, in an attempt to surprise Rosecrans, Bragg’s Confederates attempt to cross the Chickamauga River at two points, and are opposed at both crossings by only one brigade each. Col. Minty’s cavalry blocks the crossing of Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s division at Reed’s Bridge, at the Confederate right flank. Assisted by Forrest’s cavalry, Johnson pushes across. At that point, Maj. Gen. John B. Hood, just arrived from Virginia, takes command of the column and pushes Minty back through the heavy woods. Farther south, Col. John Wilder’s Lightning Brigade---an infantry brigade equipped with repeating rifles and mounted---fights at Alexander’s Bridge against the vanguard of Confederate Gen. Walker’s corps, Brig. Gen. St. John Liddell’s division, and holds off the Rebels for some time, inflicting heavy casualties. However, the Southerners find another crossing farther south, and Wilder withdraws to the west and forms another block. Gen. Buckner gets one brigade across the river, but darkness is falling, and Bragg’s hoped-for surprise of the Yankees must wait until tomorrow.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+18%2C+1863
C+ Friday, September 18, 1863: Gen. Rosecrans now understands that Bragg intends to strike his army piecemeal, and separately attack Thomas’s corps before Crittenden and McCook can come up to support Thomas, hopefully trapping the Yankees and cutting them off from their escape routes back into Chattanooga. Rosecrans pushes his men on the march, swiftly up the Chickamauga Valley.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+18%2C+1863
D Sunday, September 18, 1864: Martinsburg, Virginia - On September 18, Maj. Gen. Jubal Early moved part of his Confederate force north to the town of Martinsburg. There, they encountered and drove off a group of Union cavalry. Later that night, the Confederates had pulled back to Bunker Hill.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
D+ Sunday, September 18, 1864: The affair near Martinsburg, WV, as Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early, CSA, moves from the vicinity of Winchester, VA, against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, near Martinsburg, WV, with a force of 12,000 against Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s force, USA, of 40,000.
http://www.beyondthecrater.com/resources/tipc/september-1864/september-18-1864/
McCarter] LTC Trent Klug SFC Bernard WalkoSSG Franklin Briant SSG Byron Howard Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryPO2 Marco MonsalveSPC Woody Bullard SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSgt Christopher Collins SPC (Join to see) SPC Gary C. PO3 Lynn Spalding

thanks for the History...

Good morning - just in time for my morning read. Thanks!