Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
June 3, 1862 - Colonel George F. Shepley becomes military governor of Louisiana.
June 3, 1862 - Following the fall of Corinth, Mississippi to the Union, the Confederates abandon Fort Pillow, Tennessee, located below Island #10 on the Mississippi.
June 3, 1862 - Confederate forces no longer defend Memphis, Tennessee once Fort Pillow is abandoned. Only a weak Confederate Naval squadron protects Memphis.
June 4, 1862 - Southern farmers along the Yazoo River burn acres of growing cotton to keep the valuable crop from Union control.
June 4, 1862 - Following a brief skirmish at Big Bend, western Virginia, General Thomas J. Jackson moves his Army southward into the Shenandoah Valley.
June 4, 1862 - Commodore Charles H. Davis bypasses Fort Pillow with his gunboat flotilla.
June 4, 1862 - General Ormsby M. Mitchel skirmishes near Huntsville, Alabama and begins to threaten Chattanooga, Tennessee.
June 5, 1862 - President Lincoln appoints diplomats to Liberia and Haiti after the United States formally recognizes these largely black nations. Lincoln briefly considered moving former slaves to these locations to establish colonies of freed slaves.
June 5, 1862 - General McClellan's move toward Richmond is delayed once again, this time by inclement weather.
June 5, 1862 - General Robert E. Lee acquaints himself with the Confederate Army, his new command and readies his force for a counter strike when the Union Army moves.
June 5, 1862 - With no further threat from the Confederates at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, four gunboats and five rams under Commodore Charles H. Davis and Colonel Charles Ellet steam downriver to capture Memphis.
June 6, 1862 - Anchored off Island #45 just two miles north of Memphis, the Union ironclads USS Benton, Louisville, Carondelet, Cairo, and St. Louis plus Colonel Ellet's fleet of rams head for the city. Captain James E. Montgomery moves his steam rams, the CSS General Beauregard, General Bragg, General Price, General Van Dorn, General Thompson, Colonel Lovell, Sumter, and Little Rebel to oppose. All Confederate ships except the Van Dorn are rammed. Confederate loss also includes 100 killed and a similar number captured. The Union ran one of their vessels aground to keep it from sinking and suffered one casualty. Colonel Ellet was shot through the knee and died two weeks later with infection.
June 6, 1862 - Commodore Davis demands the surrender of Memphis, which occurs immediately. Memphis becomes a staging area for assaults on Vicksburg.
June 6, 1862 - Confederate cavalry General Ashby Turner is killed leading rearguard activity near Harrisonburg, western Virginia. General Jackson moves to Port Royal, western Virginia, and marches 100 miles in five days.
June 7, 1862 - At New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler adds to his legacy of being a brute and to his nickname Beast Butler by ordering William B. Mumford hanged for removing and destroying the Union flag raised over the New Orleans Mint when the city was captured back on April 25th.
June 7/8, 1862 - Union artillery attacks on Chattanooga accomplish nothing.
June 8, 1862 - General Jackson's Army of the Valley remains in Port Royal. A surprise Union raid captures three of his staff officers. The Union loses four cannons.
June 8, 1862 - Just seven miles from Port Royal at Cross Keyes, western Virginia, Union General Fremont and Confederate General Ewell's forces skirmish. General Fremont's actions were judged timid on this day.
June 9, 1862 - At Port Republic, Virginia, the Stonewall brigade has its last encounter of the Valley Campaign. Little is accomplished by either side. Jackson's battlefield leadership is brought into question due to his order to burn all bridges, taking away any chance to defeat the Union forces. General Fremont could only shell from across the river due to the bridges being burned, but he was late arriving and did not assist General Tyler in countering the initial attack by Jackson's troops.
