Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
August 25, 1863 - At Battery Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, Union infantry attacking Confederate rifle pits are forced to retreat.
August 25, 1863 - General Thomas Ewing, commander of the Union Border District, issues controversial General Order No. 11. The inhabitants of three Missouri counties were ordered to leave their homes for aiding and assisting guerrillas. The homes were then burned with about 20,000 people displaced. General James Lane, a noted Union frontier jayhawker and well known politician, nearly ruined Ewing's military reputation when he insisted that these harsh measures be ordered and enforced. Thomas Ewing was a native of Lancaster, Ohio.
August 25, 1863 - Additional saltpeter mines are destroyed along Jackson's River, West Virginia. Union General William Averell then moves west toward White Sulphur Springs.
August 26, 1863 - General Averell's Union Cavalry skirmishes heavily with Confederate forces at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. With 2,000 troopers, Averell's cavalry equals the Confederates' force under Colonel George S. Patton, sent to stop the Union destruction. Averell dismounts to attack across a densely wooded area and is defeated with loss of 26 dead, 125 wounded, and 67 captured. Averell then moves on to Calligan's Station.
August 26, 1863 - Union troops defeat Colonel Stand Watie's Cherokee Confederates
at Perryville, Indian Territory. General James Blunt is the Union leader.
August 26, 1863 - Union troops again storm the rifle pits fronting Battery Wagner and gain the advantage.
August 27, 1863 - General Averell ends his raid into West Virginia and reaches Beverly.
August 29, 1863 - The experimental submarine CSS Hunley sinks in Charleston Harbor
while on a trial run. Six of Lieutenant John A. Payne's crew are killed. The wake of a passing steamer while hatches were still open for ventilation was the apparent cause.
August 29, 1863 - General William Rosecrans and his Union forces flank the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Braxton Bragg and his Confederate forces must soon fight or fall back.
August 30, 1863 - Fort Sumter remains the focus of Union bombardment from Morris Island where the Union batteries are located.
August 30, 1863 - U.S. Marines assigned to the Mississippi River Squadron capture 35 prisoners and three Confederate paymasters at Boliver, Mississippi. They were carrying $2.2 million of Confederate currency.
August 31, 1863 - The Army of the Potomac Union XII Corps gets a new commander with General Alpheus S. Williams taking command.
