Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
September 3, 1861 - Oliver O. Howard, Daniel E. Sickles, and Lew Wallace become brigadier generals in the Union Army.
September 3, 1861 - General Gideon Pillow and Colonel H. L. Wallace exchange prisoners in Missouri.
September 3, 1861 - General Leonidas Polk orders Confederate forces to violate Kentucky neutrality by establishing defensive positions at Hickman, Chalk Cliffs, and Columbus along the Kentucky border with Tennessee. This completes a continuous line from the Atlantic to Kansas. The Confederate Secretary of War tells Polk to withdraw but President Jefferson Davis overrules.
September 4, 1861 - Union forces under U. S. Grant occupy Paducah, Kentucky.
September 5, 1861 - President Lincoln and his cabinet discuss General Fremont's future with General Winfield Scott. (See September 2 entry.)
September 5, 1861 - The Western Sanitary Commission is established in St. Louis to help soldiers hospitalized in the West.
September 6, 1861 - The U. S. Consul in London, England is made aware of the purchase of the Bermuda, Adelaide, and Victoria by Confederate Agents.
September 6, 1861 - Union General U. S. Grant appoints General Charles F. Smith to command forces at Paducah in western Kentucky and returns to Cairo, Illinois. The move to Paducah yields strategic consequences as the north end of the Tennessee and the Cumberland Rivers are now in Union control.
September 6, 1861 - Commander John Rogers moves the Tyler and the Lexington gunboats in support of General Smith at Paducah.
September 7, 1861 - Reports of lavish spending by General Fremont in St. Louis reach President Lincoln. Lincoln sends General David Hunter to "assist" Fremont.
September 7, 1861 - Confederate General Sterling Price refits his Missouri Militia with arms collected at Wilson Creek battlefield and moves to Lexington, Missouri.
September 8, 1861 - General U. S. Grant prepares for an attack at Lucas Bend, Missouri and is supported by the USS Conestoga and Lexington.
September 9, 1861 - President Lincoln is urged by his cabinet to relieve General Charles C. Fremont of command in Missouri. The President relents and sends reinforcing troops to Fremont.
September 9, 1861 - General William S. Rosecrans advances to Carnifax Ferry in western Virginia.
September 10, 1861 - Rosecrans and 6,000 Union troops strike 2,000 Confederates at Carnifax Ferry, western Virginia. Confederates withdraw.
September 10, 1861 - General Robert E. Lee formulates a plan to move on the offensive and storm a Union outpost on Cheat Mountain, western Virginia. Possession of the strategic high ground would give the Confederates communication along the line from Staunton, Virginia to Parkersburg and sever Union communication.
September 10, 1861 - General William W. Loring, who formerly outranked Lee in the Regular Army, hampers Lee's efforts. General Lee is ultimately unsuccessful at Cheat Mountain.
September 10, 1861 - Mrs. Fremont visits President Lincoln to defend her husband. Lincoln shows his displeasure and Mrs. Fremont returns to St. Louis in a huff.
September 10, 1861 - Union Brigadier General George H. Thomas assumes command at Camp Dick Robinson in Kentucky.
September 10, 1861 - General Albert Sidney Johnston is appointed to head the Confederate Armies in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky.
