Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
April 1,1862 - General McClellan's Army of the Potomac is transferred from Alexandria, Virginia to Fortress Monroe, Virginia.
April 1,1862 - Screened by cavalry under Colonel Ashby Turner, Confederate forces move up (south) the Shenandoah, led by General Thomas Jackson.
April 1,1862 - Confederate reconnaissance of the Federal position at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee suggests that General Grant has split his force.
April 1,1862 - The Federal gunboat USS St. Louis leads an expedition against Fort #1, located above Island #10 on the Mississippi. Fort #1 is captured and guns are spiked. The fleet withdraws, unmolested.
April 2,1862 - Confederate spy Rose Greenhow is expelled from Washington, D.C.
April 2,1862 - General George McClellan and his staff arrive at Fortress Monroe and plan for the move north toward Yorktown, Virginia.
April 2,1862 - The Army of the Ohio under Don C. Buell departs Nashville for Pittsburg Landing to join General U.S. Grant's forces. Confederate General Beauregard plans a complex wave attack, likely to cause mass confusion in battle. General Albert Sidney Johnston strikes preemptively to prevent the Federal forces from combining in overwhelming strength.
April 3,1862 - Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia, by order of the U.S.
Senate.
April 3,1862 - Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, encouraged by events so far, orders all recruiting offices in the north closed.
April 3,1862 - President Lincoln, angered by General McClellan's failure to assign a larger defensive force around Washington D.C., calls for a full Army Corps to be assigned.
April 3,1862 - President Lincoln orders offensive operations to begin against Richmond, Virginia.
April 3,1862 - General McClellan completes final preparations for his massive Army of the Potomac to move into combat. His force numbers 112,000 men.
April 3,1862 - General Albert S. Johnston leaves Corinth, Mississippi and marches toward Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The driving rain and poor marching conditions cause delays and General Johnston believes he has lost the element of surprise.
April 4,1862 - New Union Armies are organized as the Department of the Rappahannock (I Corps) under General Irvin McDowell and the Department of the Shenandoah (V corps) under General Nathaniel P. Banks.
April 4,1862 - General McClellan gets his well-trained Army underway toward Yorktown. President Lincoln is encouraged that McClellan is finally moving.
April 4,1862 - General Albert S. Johnston continues his weather impeded march toward Pittsburg Landing but the Union Army does not suspect any movement in the area.
April 4,1862 - A Union Squadron with the USS J.P. Jackson, New London, and Hatteras lands 1,200 sailors and marines at Pass Christian, Mississippi. The CSS Pamlico and Oregon oppose the movement but then withdraw.
April 4,1862 - In rain and darkness, Commander Henry Walke on the USS Corondelet that is stacked with cordwood to protect its boilers, moves past the Confederate Batteries on Island #10. The Southerners are now cut off from reinforcements from downstream and Union General John Pope can safely move across the Mississippi River.
April 5,1862 - The Army of the Potomac, with overwhelming forces, begins to move up the Peninsula toward Yorktown. Confederate General John B. Magruder with only 15,000 troops uses ruses such as "Quaker Guns" and march/counter march tactics to give the impression of greater numbers. General McClellan falls for these tactics and delays his movement for more than a month.
April 5,1862 - General Albert Sidney Johnston defies General Beauregard's suggestion of waiting for a larger force at Pittsburg Landing. General Johnston is credited with saying; "I would fight them if they were a million." Generals Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman remain unaware of the pending encounter.
April 6,1862 - The Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) takes place. General Grant is seven miles away at Savannah, Tennessee as the battle starts. General Sherman is on-site Commander. Some historical highlights include General Albert Sidney's death, the Hornets Nest, the Peach Orchard, General Lew Wallace and his 12,000 troops "forced marched" from Crump's Landing seven miles away, the overnight arrival of General Don Buell's Army of the Ohio, and the heavy fire from the USS Tyler and USS Lexington on the Tennessee River. (Suggest you read the history of this significant battle for details.)
April 6,1862 - The USS Carondelet moves down the Mississippi from New Madrid, spiked the Confederate shore battery at Tipton and generally controls the lower Mississippi.
