Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
August 11, 1863 - Union positions on Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina come under Confederate cannon fire from Battery Wagner, Fort Sumter, and James Island.
August 11, 1863 - Major John Mosby leads his Virginia Partisan Rangers in a raid on Union forces near Annandale, Virginia. Nineteen wagons are taken.
August 12, 1863 - General John McClernand sees his military career end when President Lincoln does not select him for a new position. He lost his command at Vicksburg when he disobeyed General Grant's order.
August 12, 1863 - Federal troops countered Confederate battery fire with heavy Parrott rifles on Morris Island. The brick structures at Fort Sumter and Battery Wagner were heavily damaged and many guns were knocked off their mounts.
August 12, 1863 - The experimental CSS Hunley, a novelty submarine, heads by rail from Mobile to Charleston Harbor to help defend against the Union flotilla. The vessel is 40 feet long and three and a half feet in diameter, and propelled by a crankshaft screw operated by five men.
August 14, 1863 - General Meade visits Washington, D.C., to meet with President Lincoln and his cabinet. Army of the Potomac strategy is discussed.
August 14, 1863 - Five captive sisters of known Confederate guerrillas are killed when a building collapses in Kansas City, Missouri. The guerrilla bands plot retaliation.
August 15, 1863 - The CSS Hunley arrives at Charleston Harbor from Mobile. General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the city's defenses, is anxious to use the new invention.
August 16, 1863 - General Rosecrans begins to move his Army of the Cumberland south from Tullahoma toward Chattanooga after considerable prodding. He splits his army to cover three mountain passes, a risky maneuver. General Burnside leaves Lexington, Kentucky about the same time and Rosecrans plans to catch Braxton Bragg's Confederates between the two forces.
August 17, 1863 - General Quincy A. Gillmore orders 11 heavy guns on Morris Island to commence saturation bombardment of Fort Sumter. They fire 938 shots the first day and further reduce the brick structure.
August 17, 1863 - Admiral John Dahlgren's squadron moves into position to attack the Confederate defenses at Charleston Harbor. He has 15 ships and they concentrate fire on various defensive positions. A counter fire shot from Fort Sumter kills Captain J.W. Rodgers of the USS Catskill.
