Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
July 21, 1863 - The USS Sallie Ward is destroyed by Confederate artillery after she ran aground at Island No. 82 on the Mississippi River.
July 22, 1863 - Union losses of at least 150 vessels to Confederate raiders has resulted in loss of $12 million according to the New York Chamber of Commerce. This is testimony to the effectiveness of the CSS Alabama, Florida, and Georgia plus other Confederate vessels less well known.
July 22, 1863 - The U.S. Navy establishes a four-gun battery on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. They bombard Fort Sumter.
July 23, 1863 -The Union Army occupies Manassas Gap in western Virginia to try to stop the retreating Army of Northern Virginia from escaping into the Luray Valley and the Shenandoah. The Confederates continue to move south.
July 24, 1863 - Federal General Nathaniel P. Banks is ordered to prepare to move troops from New Orleans. This preparation is in anticipation of an expedition into coastal Texas in response to perceived hostility toward the United States by the French when they move on Mexico City.
July 24, 1863 - Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren bombards Battery Wagner in Charleston Harbor from his fleet of 10 vessels to aid General Quincy Gillmore's troops as they consolidate their hold on Morris Island and Battery Wagner.
July 25, 1863 - Virginia Partisan Rangers commanded by Major John Mosby twice ambush a Union scout force near Goose Creek, Virginia.
July 25, 1863 - Confederate rail lines at Jackson, Mississippi are destroyed as General William T. Sherman's force withdraws from the city. Union forces burn cotton mills and other buildings at Kingston, Liberty, and Woodville, Mississippi.
July 25, 1863 - A Union force moves from Portsmouth, Virginia to Jackson, North Carolina. Confederate General Matt Whitaker is killed in the skirmish at Jackson.
July 26, 1863 - John J. Crittenden, Senator from Kentucky and author of the Crittenden Comprise in 1860, dies in Frankfort, Kentucky.
July 26, 1863 - General John Hunt Morgan and his small group of remaining troopers are captured at Salineville, Ohio. All are slated to be moved to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus.
July 27, 1863 - The Confederate raider CSS Florida sails to Bermuda, loads full of coal and ammunition, and departs for Brest, France for a major overhaul. Lieutenant John N. Maffitt commands.
