Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
August 5, 1862 - In a large battle at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops under General John C. Breckenridge attack a Union enclave. The focus of the attack is to rid the area of Union forces and to secure Port Hudson as a choke point on the Mississippi River. Port Hudson is about halfway between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. Union General Thomas Williams is killed and Confederate General Charles Clark is wounded and later captured. Official counts show 84 soldiers killed on each side with 299 Union and 372 Southerners wounded.
August 5, 1862 - The CSS Arkansas, moving down the Mississippi River to counter Union gunboats at Baton Rouge, suffers a broken propeller shaft. This delay is named as the cause of the Confederate defeat.
August 6, 1862 - S. Rosecrans is promoted to Major General, U.S. Army.
August 6, 1862 - Skirmishing continues around Malvern Hill and Thornburg, Virginia. Federal forces withdraw.
August 6, 1862 - Union General Robert L. McCook, riding in an ambulance wagon in Tennessee, is murdered by Confederate guerrillas.
August 6, 1862 - Sioux Chief Little Crow meets with Indian Agent Andrew J. Myrick to plead for food. Due to the war, payments and supplies are tardy and the tribe is starving. Agent Myrick's official response is: "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass." The Indians in Arkansas and Missouri actively fight with the Southern forces for much of the rest of the Civil War and participated in some of the bloodiest battles.
August 6, 1862 - The hobbled CSS Arkansas is attacked by the USS Essex as it moves from Baton Rouge and is run aground. Lieutenant Henry K. Stevens orders the ironclad scuttled. Never again is such a large Confederate warship deployed on the Mississippi.
August 7, 1862 - General Thomas J. Jackson orders 24,000 Confederate troops to march north toward Orange Courthouse, Virginia. The longtime feud between General Jackson and General Ambrose P. Hill is fueled by Hill getting a late start with only eight miles movement on the day.
August 7, 1862 - President Lincoln, Secretary Stanton, and Secretary Seward visit the Washington Navel Yard to witness the test firing of the experimental repeating cannon "Rafael."
August 8, 1862 - Secretary of War Edwin Stanton suspends writs of habeas corpus throughout the country to aid cases of treason and draft evasion.
August 8, 1862 - General Nathaniel Banks moves his 9,000 man Division of Union troops to Culpeper Road. General Thomas J. Jackson crosses the Rapidan River with his 24,000 Confederates to evict Banks' force from Culpeper County.
August 8, 1862 - General Braxton Bragg invades Kentucky from Chattanooga, Tennessee with 30,000 men of his Army of the Mississippi.
August 8, 1862 - At Huntsville, Alabama, Southern guerrillas attack rail traffic. The Union counters by arresting Secessionist Clergy and forcing them to ride as passengers on these trains.
August 9, 1862 - The Battle of Cedar Mountain near Culpeper, Virginia takes place. Union General Banks, outnumbered 24,000 to his 9,000, deploys along the base of the mountain with artillery cover above. General Jackson advances but is driven back by the cannon fire. Again, Ambrose P. Hill's unit is slow and strung out over several miles, resulting is a tardy deployment. Jackson fails to realize an additional two Union Brigades under General's Samuel Crawford and George Gordon are on the flank of the Confederate line. The result is the defeat of the famous Stonewall Brigade commanded by General Harry S. Winder, with Winder being killed. Reports suggest that General Jackson drew his sword, grabbed a flag, and led his troops to rally; the only time in the war he did so. The southern soldiers dubbed the site "Slaughter Mountain." The costly battle did delay the southward advance of General Pope, giving General Robert E. Lee time to reinforce Jackson with General Longstreet's forces.
August 10, 1862 - A general truce is in effect at Cedar Mountain to collect and bury the dead.
August 11, 1862 - General Jackson crosses the Rapidan River, withdrawing south to Gordanville, Virginia.
August 11, 1862 - William Quantrill, Confederate raider, captures and briefly holds Independence, Missouri.
August 11, 1862 - From Corinth, Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant announces all fugitive slaves will be employed by his department as laborers.
