Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
May 27, 1862 - Union forces under General Nathaniel Banks continue to cross the Potomac River to safety. General Thomas Jackson attacks their rearguard at Loudoun Height, western Virginia and threatens Harper's Ferry.
May 27, 1862 - A skirmish with a significant casualty count takes place at Hanover Court House, Virginia when General McClellan moves reinforcing troops to his right flank and they encounter the 28th North Carolina. Hanover Court House is on the north side of the Chickahominy River and only eight miles from Richmond.
May 28, 1862 - Confederate President Davis states, "We are steadily developing for a great battle, and under God's favor I trust for a decisive victory," as he expresses disappointment that General Joseph Johnston has not begun an offensive against the large Army of the Potomac at Richmond.
May 28, 1862 - The daily rum ration for Navy personnel is discussed as Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox asks for legislation to abolish the old practice.
May 29, 1862 - General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry arrive in Richmond and report to General Johnston that General McDowell's I Corps has been defeated at Fredericksburg. The armies of Generals McDowell, Fremont, and Banks have been effectively occupied which kept them from joining General McClellan's Army in front of Richmond.
May 29, 1862 - Nearly 50,000 troops of the Union army gather near Harper's Ferry in an attempt to cut off General Jackson's move from Front Royal. General "Stonewall" Jackson makes one of his rapid foot marches and quickly transits to Winchester and out of immediate danger.
May 29, 1862 - General P.G.T. Beauregard, facing superior manpower in General Halleck's Union force, abandons Corinth, Mississippi and withdraws toward Tupelo. The Confederate move was covered by singing, shouting, and other noise associated with the arrival of reinforcing forces when in fact the Confederate forces were leaving.
May 30, 1862 - General Joseph E. Johnston makes a close reconnaissance of Union troops on both sides of the rain-swollen Chickahominy River. He discovers the south bank is occupied by only 34,000 men of Generals Samuel Heintzelman and Erasmus Keyes, and they are unsupported. Johnston orders an attack by Generals James Longstreet, Daniel Hill, and Benjamin Huger, but the commands are all verbal and direct the young army to make complicated marches on three different roads.
May 30, 1862 - General Thomas J. Jackson stays ahead of the three converging Union Armies by moving from Winchester, Virginia, leaving a rearguard commanded by General Ashby Turner. The 1st Rhode Island Cavalry recaptures Front Royal along with over 150 Confederate troops and spy Belle Boyd.
May 30, 1862 - General Halleck follows the withdrawal of General Beauregard's army and captures about 2000 stragglers as they evacuate Corinth, Mississippi.
May 31, 1862 - The Southern Army at Richmond runs into several problems with the attack on the south side of the Chickamominy River. With sections of the Confederates on the wrong roads, troops becoming intermingled, and a slow march, the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks begin about mid-afternoon and are inconclusive at 6:00 PM.
May 31, 1862 - A secondary attack by Confederate General W. H. Whiting's forces at Fair Oaks falters in the evening and General Johnston rides in to assume personal command. General Johnston is hit in the shoulder by a musket ball. General Gustavus Smith assumes command and the attack dissolves.
May 31, 1862 - General Thomas Jackson avoids the converging Union Armies and moves from Winchester to Strasburg, Virginia.
June 1, 1862 - Confederate forces at Seven Pines resume the offensive against the Army of the Potomac. General Robert E. Lee arrives from Richmond to succeed General Smith and orders the battle stopped at 1:00 PM. A major event of the war takes place when Robert E. Lee leaves the Confederate Capitol as advisor to President Davis and becomes a field General.
June 1, 1862 - A skirmish between General Jackson's Confederates and General Irvin McDowell's Union troops takes place at Mount Carmel, western Virginia.
June 2, 1862 - General Ashby Turner's cavalry is overrun at Woodstock, western Virginia by Union Cavalry commanded by General George Bayard.
June 2, 1862 - Union forces under General John Pope leave General Halleck's main force to follow General Beauregard's retreat to Rienzi, Mississippi.
June 2, 1862 - Mrs. Rose O'Neil Greenhow, who continued to spy for the Confederate cause while under house arrest in Washington, D.C., is banished to the South.
