August 10,1864-Confederate General Hood dispatches General Wheeler's cavalry to raid Sherman's rail lines above Atlanta and into Tennessee. Wheeler continues these raids until September 10th without much effect. General Sherman has ample supplies stockpiled for this time and the Confederate Army is without Wheeler's cavalry for a month. Another blunder by General John B. Hood?
August 10,1864-General Philip Sheridan leaves Harper's Ferry, enters the Shenandoah Valley, and moves toward General Jubal Early's forces near Winchester, Virginia.
August 10,1864-The transport steamer 'Empress' comes under attack by the Confederate Battery at Gaines Landing, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Federal gunboats led by the USS Romeo arrive and silence the battery. The USS Empress takes 63 hits and is ultimately towed to safety. Fighting continues into the next day when the USS Romeo and Prairie Bird are engaged until the Confederate Battery is again silenced.
August 11,1864-General Sheridan continues his pursuit of General Early's Confederate forces as they move back to Cedar Creek, Virginia.
August 12,1864-In a week of heavy raiding by the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee, six Union vessels are taken off New York and seven more off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
August 13,1864-General Ulysses S. Grant learns that a large Confederate force is being moved from Deep Bottom Run, 11 miles southeast of the Richmond/Petersburg, Virginia area to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant orders General Winfield Hancock's II Corps, General David Birney's X Corps, and the 2nd Cavalry Division of General David M. Gregg to strike the remaining defenses at Deep Bottom Run. A Union breakthrough in this sector would put the Union Army only ten miles from Richmond. Deep Bottom Run is the location of the Darbytown Road skirmish back on July 28th involving both Sheridan and Hancock.
August 13,1864-General Alfred Pleasonton carries out a large scale anti-guerrilla raid against William C. Quantrill's forces in La Fayette, Saline, and Howard Counties, Missouri.
August 14,1864-Confederate infantry under General Richard H. Anderson arrives at Front Royal, Virginia. General Sheridan's lines of communication are threatened by this move. General Wesley Merritt's cavalry scouts near Front Royal to determine strength and intentions of Anderson's units. Sheridan moves back toward Harper's Ferry and settles at Halltown, Virginia.
August 14,1864-Cavalry General Joseph Wheeler destroys track south of Dalton, Georgia. Union troops guarding the supply line from Chattanooga to Atlanta are able to drive Wheeler's Cavalry off.
August 15,1864-Generals Hancock and Birney march down the Charles City Road toward Fussell's Mill in the Deep Bottom Run area. General Gouverneur K. Warren also brings his V Corp from the Union right to strike the Weldon Road.
August 15,1864-Skirmishing at Ceder Creek, Virginia involving General Sheridan's cavalry and General Early's troopers result in a cautious move back toward Winchester. General Grant again cautions Sheridan that President Lincoln's re-election is precarious and any defeat would be embarrassing and must be avoided at all cost. General Wheeler now believes that Sheridan is timid.
August 16,1864-Colonel John Mosby surprises and defeats a Union force at Kernstown and Charleston, West Virginia.
August 16,1864-At Fussell's Mill, Virginia, General Birney's X Corp achieves initial success but General Charles Field arrive to fill the breach. Union losses total about 2,000, twice the Confederate loss.
August 16,1864-At Front Royal, Virginia, Confederate General Richard Anderson is pushed back to the Shenandoah River in hand to hand and sabre fighting. General George A. Custer's Union cavalry brigade, armed with repeating Spencer carbines, sends the Confederates back across the river. General Sheridan now has a clear picture of the strength of the Confederate force and moves back toward Harper's Ferry once again.
August 16,1864-The Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee captures and burns four more Federal vessels of the New England coast.
