Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
March 18, 1862 - Robert M.T. Hunter, former Secretary of State for the Confederate Government, is elected to the Confederate Senate. President Davis appoints Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin his new Secretary of State.
March 18, 1862 - Ambrose Burnside is promoted to Major General, U.S. Army.
March 18, 1862 - General Albert S. Johnston leads the Confederate advance guard into Corinth, Mississippi, arriving from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
March 19, 1862 - Commodore Andrew H. Foote continues to utilize his gunboat squadron to assail Island #10 in the Mississippi River. Confederate resistance remains strong.
March 20, 1862 - In anticipation of operation against New Orleans, General Benjamin Butler is moved to command the Department of the Gulf Coast at Ship Island, Miss.
March 20, 1862 - General Ambrose Burnside moves a large force from their base at New Bern, North Carolina on the Neuse River to Washington, N.C. on Pamlico Sound.
March 20, 1862 - General Oliver O. Howard leads a small Federal reconnaissance force to Manassas Junction, Virginia.
March 20, 1862 - To strengthen the defense around Washington, D.C., Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks is ordered out of the Shenandoah Valley, moving his V Corps east.
March 21, 1862 - CSA Cavalry Commander Colonel Turner Ashby informs General Thomas J. Jackson of General Bank's move out of the Shenandoah. General Jackson moves toward Kerntown to try to lure the V Corps back to the valley. The Confederate fear is that Banks is moving in support of the Army of the Potomac moving on Richmond.
March 21, 1862 - A Union force at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee is engaged in a skirmish with General Edmund Kirby-Smith.
March 21, 1862 - The U.S. Army announces the promotions of Samuel R. Curtis, William S. Rosecrans, and Lew Wallace, now Major Generals.
March 22, 1862 - More promotions in the north; Don C. Buell, John Pope, and Franz Sigel are promoted to Major General.
March 22, 1862 - At New Orleans, General Mansfield Lovell, Commanding Confederate Officer reports his six steamers are prepared to defend the city. Inhabitants of New Orleans are dismayed by the movement of most Confederate naval assets upriver.
March 22, 1862 - Kerntown, western Virginia is the scene of skirmishing between CSA Cavalry Colonel Turner Ashby and Union forces under James Shield. Ashby reports to General Thomas J. Jackson that his strength is about equal to the Federals but Shield actually outnumbers him about two to one with many hidden in thick undergrowth.
March 22, 1862 - Confederate guerrillas under William C. Quantrill skirmish with the 2nd Kansas Cavalry near Independence, Missouri.
March 22, 1862 - The first English vessel built expressly for the Confederate Navy through the clandestine efforts of agent James D. Bulloch departs Liverpool for Nassau. The steamer is marked Oreto but will be renamed the CSS Florida and outfitted with four seven-inch guns prior to delivery.
March 23, 1862 - George W. Randolph is appointed Secretary of War by Confederate President Davis.
March 23, 1862 - To bypass Confederate defensive works on Island #10 on the Mississippi River, Union soldiers begin a 12-mile long, 50-foot wide canal. Union gunboats could then pass without direct contact with the enemy.
March 23, 1862 - The battle of Kerntown, Virginia (south of Winchester) takes place. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson force marches his 4,500 man 41 miles in two days and attacks Gen. James Shield's 9000 Union troops. Jackson is initially successful and drives the Federal Troops back but the battle is a tactical defeat of the Confederate Army. The implications are more lasting. Union authorities believed Jackson would not have attacked unless he expected to be reinforced and Kerntown was just one step on Jackson's march to Washington. President Lincoln held McDowell's I Corps at Washington and two Divisions of Gen. Nathaniel Bank's forces at Harper Ferry. These forces are therefore not available to reinforce the Army of the Potomac moving in the Peninsula Campaign toward Richmond.
March 24, 1862 - General Jackson starts his highly successful Shenandoah Campaign.
March 24, 1862 - General Albert Sidney Johnston concentrates his Confederate forces at Corinth, Mississippi and General Ulysses S. Grant consolidates his forces at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, 20 miles north of Corinth.
March 24, 1862 - In Cincinnati, Ohio, radical abolitionist Wendell Phillips is pelted with eggs and stones due to the unpopularity of emancipation.
