April 13,1864-The USS Rachel Seaman captures the British blockade runner Maria Alford on the Mermentua River, Louisiana and the USS Nyanza captures the Confederate schooner Mandoline at Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana.
April 14,1864-The Manhattan Fair in New York City raises $1 million for the Sanitary Commission, a relief organization for the U.S. Army. President Lincoln was guest speaker.
April 14,1864-Confederate cavalry troops commanded by General Abraham Buford read in the local newspaper that General Forrest's recent raid missed 140 army horses concealed in a foundry in Paducah, Kentucky. Buford moves on the lightly guarded foundry and takes the horses when the Union guards retreat to Fort Anderson.
April 15,1864-Tennessee Governor Andrew Jackson endorses the principles of emancipation in a speech at Knoxville.
April 15,1864-The Federal gunboat USS Eastport grounds itself on shore after striking a Confederate torpedo in the Red River near Grand Ecore, Louisiana. Repair are made.
April 16,1864-The U.S. Army reports 146,634 Confederate prisoners of war under Army control.
April 17,1864-General Ulysses S. Grant suspends all prisoner exchanges severely restricting the number of trained soldiers in the South.
April 17,1864-General Frederick Steele dispatched a foraging expedition to Camden, Arkansas in search of corn. The bulk of the 695 soldiers involved are from the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers traveling with two cannons and 198 wagons. En route, and additional 475 men join the expedition.
April 17,1864-About 7,000 Confederate's under General Robert Hoke attack at Plymouth, North Carolina where 2,834 Union infantry, cavalry, and artillery are housed. The Union post is further supported by offshore batteries.
April 18,1864-General Hoke continues the attack and captures Fort Wessels. The Union forces resist strongly and move to Fort Williams. Hoke's success depends on the arrival of the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle.
April 18,1864-Confederate Generals John S. Marmaduke and Samuel B. Maxey combine forces and attack General Steele's small Union camp at Poison Springs, Arkansas. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer troops resist but are far outnumbered and eventually yield. General Marmaduke orders cannon fire but is overruled by General Maxey. General Maxey secures the wagons. Poison Springs is a significant Union defeat. Most of the Union dead are African American volunteers captured in battle and slaughtered by Missouri, Arkansas, and Choctaw Confederates.
April 18,1864-The CSS Albemarle departs Hamilton, North Carolina and sails down the Roanoke River toward the beseiged Plymouth. Engine trouble and steering problems slow progress.
April 19,1864-The huge Confederate steam ram CSS Albemarle attacks at Plymouth, North Carolina, sinking the USS Southfield, killing ship commander C.W. Flusser. The Union vessels draw off and the Confederates control the water approaches to Plymouth.
April 6,1864-At New Orleans, the Louisiana legislature adopts a new state constitution abolishing slavery.
April 6,1864-General Nathaniel Banks continues his march with units strung out on a narrow road some distance from the Red River. He is rapidly approaching General Richard Taylor's Confederate forces at Mansfield.
April 7,1864-General Longstreet's Confederate I Corps is ordered to return to the Army of Northern Virginia. They depart Greeneville, Tennessee.
April 8,1864-The 13th Amendment to the Constitution is approved by the U.S. Congress on a 38 to 6 vote. Slavery is abolished in all territories controlled by the United States.
April 8,1864-The 18,000 man Union army under General Banks confronts General Taylor's 8,000 Confederates at Sabine Crossroads near Mansfield, Louisiana. Bank's unit is strung out nearly single file while Taylor's troops are behind field works. Mansfield proves to be the decisive battle of the Red River Campaign and the largest battle waged in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. Taylor's Division Commander General Alfred Moulton is killed along with about 1000 other Confederates. Banks losses are severe with 2,235 killed, missing, or wounded plus 20 cannons, 200 wagons, 1,000 draft animals lost.
April 9,1864-The Union strategy for the final push of the war, with five major components, is announced by General Grant. General Nathaniel Banks will capture Mobile, General William Sherman will seize Atlanta, General Fritz Seigel will advance down the Shenandoah Valley destroying the food source, General Benjamin Butler will descend on Richmond, and General George Meade will follow General Robert E. Lee where ever he goes.
April 9,1864-General Banks consolidates his scattered force and is joined by reinforcement from General Andrew Smith's XVI Corps. Near Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, the Northern forces await General Taylor's appearance. Taylor's troops mount an attack around 4:30 PM but are forced to pull back by nightfall. This tactical victory is the Union's last battle of the Red River Campaign.
April 10,1864-The Red River Campaign grounds are abandoned as General Banks withdraws to Grand Ecore, Louisiana and General Taylor is ordered back to Mansfield by General Edmund Kirby Smith.
April 10,1864-Confederate troops south of the Tennessee-Georgia line capture Mary Edwards Walker, the U.S. Army's only woman surgeon. She is released about four months later.
April 10,1864-Admiral Porter reaches Springfield Landing, Louisiana, 30 miles below Shreveport. The sunken Confederate steamer 'New Falls City' blocks the river. Falling water levels and news of the defeat at Sabine Crossing hinders further progress.
April 11,1864-Admiral Porter works to move his gunships over the Alexandria Rapids and continue upstream. The majority of his Squadron becomes trapped upstream due to the dipping water levels.
April 11,1864-Arkansas inaugurates the pro-Union administration of Dr. Isaac Murphy at Little Rock.
April 12,1864-1,500 Confederate cavalry troops surround Fort Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River. Fort Pillow, an open design earthwork with little protection, is defended by 557 Union soldiers, 262 of them African Americans, all commanded by Major Lionel F. Booth.
General James R. Chambers leads the Confederate cavalry charge and seizes the outer works and cannons. Confederate reinforcements arrive mid morning with General Nathan B. Forrest who concludes the fort cannot be defended. Major Booth is killed and successor Fort Pillow commander Major William F. Bradford refuses Forrest's surrender demand. The earthwork fort soon falls with 231 Union soldiers killed, 100 wounded, and 226 captured. Only 58 African American troops survived and Forrest is accused of a massacre of black soldiers. "Remember Fort Pillow" became a rallying cry for black troops.
April 12,1864-Admiral David Porter moves the Mississippi Squadron and several transport back down the Red River and they engage Southern troops at Blair's Landing, Louisiana. Confederate General Thomas Green, commander of cavalry and artillery units on shore and is one of the first of about 300 Confederates killed. Interesting side note: the USS Osage crew successfully uses a jerry-rigged periscope to direct naval fire.
March 29&30,1864-Forces under Colonel Powell Clayton move south from Mount Elba, Arkansas and surprises a Confederate supply train near Long View on the Sabine River. With 35 captured wagons and 260 prisoners, they return to Mt. Elba and establish a supply route to assist General Frederick Steele.
April 1,1864-General John M. Taylor fails to arrive at Arkadelphia, Arkansas with cavalry reinforcements in time to assist General Steele who departs for the Red River. With scant rations, men and pack animals are put on half rations. Confederate Cavalry under Generals Joseph Shelby and John S. Marmaduke continue to shadow and slow Steele's column.
April 2,1864-General Shelby's Confederate cavalry overtake the Union rear guard unit at Okolona, Arkansas, taking 160 prisoners.
April 3,1864-After encountering Confederate resistance, General Nathaniel Banks and his Army reach Grand Encore, Louisiana where they meet several army transports. The USS Eastport, Cricket, Mound City, Chillicothe, Pittsburg, Ozark, Neosho, Osage, Lexington, Fort Hindeman, and Louisville are carrying General Andrew Smith's corps. The combined armies prepare to move to attack Shreveport.
April 3,1864-Admiral Porter's 13 gunboats and 30 transports have difficulty at the Alexandria Rapids due to low water levels and may not be able to continue to Shreveport.
April 4,1864-The French policies of Napoleon III toward Mexico cause the U.S. House of Representatives to protest, resolving never to recognition a Monarch in the Western Hemisphere. America extended support of rebel forces under President Benito Juarez. (Ferdinand Maximilian became the second Emperor of Mexico on April 10,1864 and was ruler until he was executed on June 19,1867)
April 4,1864-The Army of the Potomac continues to reorganize. The XI and XII Corps are consolidated under General Joseph Hooker as the new XX Corps. General Jacob D. Cox takes charge of the XXIII Corps, and General Philip H. Sheridan succeeds General David M. Gregg as calvary commander.
April 4,1864-General John M. Schofield takes charge of the Union Army of the Tennessee's XXIII Corps. Army of the Tennessee commander is General James McPherson. He received command when General W.T. Sherman was promoted on March 12, 1864.
March 23,1864-The Union I Corps is discontinued and absorbed into the V Corps, commanded by General Gouverneur K. Warren. I Corp had been under General George Sykes since Malvern Hill in June of 1862.
March 23,1864-General Grant returned to Washington from his meeting in Nashville with General Sherman and begins to implement his plan to advance four different armies simultaneously across the South.
March 23,1864-General Frederick Steele cites chronic shortages of food and fodder for troops and pack animals as the reason for delaying the departure of his 10,400 Union troops out of Little Rock, Arkansas. He is to march east and link up with the Red River expedition being led by General Nathaniel Banks. He also was hesitant due to poor roads and the threat of Confederate Cavalry raids.
March 24,1864-General Winfield S.Scott returns to action for the first time since his injuries at Gettysburg. He is not fully recovered but resumes command of the II Corps, Army of the Potomac.
March 24,1864-The Union III Corp of the Army of the Potomac is disbanded and troops are folded into the II and VI Corps.
March 24,1864-A surprise raid by General Nathan B. Forrest captures Union City, Tennessee then moves on to Paducah, Kentucky, capturing Paducah the following day.
March 24,1864-General Nathaniel P. Butler arrives at Alexandria, Louisiana, a full week behind schedule. He was delayed in starting the Red River expedition due to the need to establish a civilian government in New Orleans. He discovers that General Andrew J. Smith's 10,000 troops have to re-joined General Sherman's Army no later that April 25th, and that water levels on the Red River continue to fall. While Admiral Porter may not be able to navigate the river due to low water, Butler orders the campaign to continue.
March 25,1864-The Army of the Potomac sees another staff change when General David Gregg replaces General Alfred M. Pleasonton as commander of the cavalry.
March 25,1864-At Paducah, Colonel Stephen G. Hicks refuses to surrender to General Forrest and withdraws into Fort Anderson. Forrest decides not to attack the strong fortification but Colonel Albert Thompson charges at the head of his 3rd and 7th Kentucky Cavalry. They are repulsed with bloody losses, including Colonel Thompson being killed. General Forrest does collect about 500 horses from area civilians.
March 26,1864-As Union forces approached Paducah, Kentucky, General Forrest retreats to Fort Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River.
March 27,1864-General Grant rejoins the Army of the Potomac now at Culpeper Court House, Virginia.
March 27,1864-Large numbers of Northern prisoners begin to arrive at Camp Sumter in Andersonville, Georgia.
March 28,1864-General Banks advances from Alexandria, Louisiana to Shreveport.
March 28,1864-A violent anti-war riot in Charleston, Illinois results in gunfire between Union soldiers home on furlough and Knight's of the Golden Circle (Copperheads) in town to hear anti-war congressional candidate John R. Eden's speech. Six are killed and 20 injured. After extended prison time, President Lincoln grants clemency to the 29 Democrats jailed during the riot.
March 28,1864-Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells urges Commander John C. Carter to have the USS Michigan ready to sail as soon as the Lake Erie ice breaks. Rumors of a Confederate takeover of the USS Michigan to raid and release Confederate Prisoners held on Johnson's Island at Sandusky, Ohio have been received.
March 29,1864-General George Meade is convinced by President Lincoln to drop his Court of Inquiry demand concerning newspaper coverage of Meade's performance at Gettysburg.
March 29,1864-Union forces under General Banks reach Natchitoches, Louisiana and move inland to a more direct route to Shreveport. Admiral Porter has been slowed by low water and has lost a vessel. Banks move inland takes his column away from Admiral Porter's gunboats and the protection the gunboats provide.
March 16,1864-After a landing party from the USS Osage under Commander Thomas O. Selfridge occupied Alexandria, Louisiana, General Andrew J. Smith's Union forces strengthened the occupation with support of nine gunboats. This is part of the naval move to Shreveport by Admiral David Porter.
March 16,1864-Confederate Colonel John M. Hughs led a cavalry attack on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad near Tullahoma, Tennessee with 60 Union soldiers captured, several trains destroyed, and 20 African Americans killed.
March 16,1864-Captain Raphael Semmes drops anchor at Capetown, South Africa to take on supplies. The CSS Alabama Confederate Raider has been repaired and is now ready to sail.
March 17,1864-General Nathaniel Banks fails to rendezvous with General Andrew Smith at Alexandria due to the political leadership exchange in New Orleans.
March 17,1864-In a meeting at Nashville, General Grant announces that "Headquarters will be in the field and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac".
March 18,1864-Arkansas voters ratified a new constitution which included the abolition of slavery.
March 18,1864-The Military Division of the Mississippi combines all Union western army units and General William T. Sherman is formally appointed as commander.
March 19,1864-The Georgia legislature grants President Jefferson Davis a vote of confidence. They also suggest peace talks be arranged with Washington D.C. following the next significant Confederate victory but stipulate "only Southern independence".
March 21,1864-Nevada and Colorado statehood legislation is signed by President Lincoln. Nevada becomes a state on October 31,1864; Colorado statehood is ratified August 1,1876.
March 21,1864-Henderson Hill, Louisiana is the site of Union cavalry defeating Confederate troops and taking 250 prisoners, 200 horses, and four cannon. The Union Cavalry was led by General Joseph A. Mower, disrupting Confederate scouting and reconnaissance.
March 22,1864-General Lew Wallace is named commander of the Middle Department headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
March 22,1864-As General Frederick Steele departs Little Rock for the expedition on the Red River, General Nathan Kimball is named commander of the Union Department of the Arkansas.
March 9,1864-Recently promoted General Ulysses S. Grant succeeds General Henry W. Hallack as army general in chief. Hallack becomes Grant's chief of staff. General George Meade remains as the commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac, currently located near Brandy Station, Virginia.
March 9,1864-General Sherman is put in command of all Union armies in the West.
March 9,1864-In retaliation for the ambush and killing of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, Union Cavalry led by General Hugh Kilpatrick burn a grain mill and other property near Carlton's Store in King and Queens County, Virginia.
March 10,1864-General Grant completes a conference with General Meade and departs for Nashville(by rail)for meetings with General Sherman.
March 10,1864-A large Union force pushes skirmishers of Colonel Mosby's Raiders back through Charlestown and Kabletown, Virginia.
March 10,1864-General Nathaniel Banks plans to start the Red River expedition by moving 10,000 men commanded by General Andrew Smith down the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Red River. These troops are on loan from General Sherman's force at Vicksburg. General Frederick Steele leaves Little Rock to advance a column of troops on Shreveport from the west. By seizing Shreveport, he can move on the Texas interior and stop Confederate supplies from moving eastward.
March 11,1864-General Banks is delayed in leaving New Orleans as he must turn over military leadership of Louisiana to the newly appointed Governor, Michael Hahn. General Smith departs as the unit commander with his troops aboard Army transports.
March 12,1864-Admiral Porter leads his armada of 13 ironclads, four tinclads, and four wooden gunboats up the Red River, Louisiana. He pauses to bombard Fort De Russy, Louisiana into submission.
March 13,1864-After receiving a signed petition from African Americans in Louisiana asking for the right to vote, President Lincoln encourages Governor Hahn to draft a new state constitution.
March 14,1864-Federal gunboats remain behind the rest of Admiral Porter's fleet to further reduce Fort De Russy. When General Smith's forces arrive, the fort is seized along with 325 prisoners and 12 cannons.
March 15,1864-Newly elected Governor Hahn of Louisiana receives power to form a civilian authority. The powers previously reserved for military control slowly revert back to politicians. Similar authority transfer was the basis of much of Southern reconstruction after the war ended.
March 2,1864-Ulysses S. Grant is elevated to the rank of lieutenant general by the U.S. Senate.
March 2,1864-In King & Queen County, Virginia, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren's 100 man Union detachment is ambushed. Colonel Dahlgren is killed and 92 of his men are captured. The Confederates recover papers outlining a plot to burn Richmond and assassinate President Jefferson Davis. The U.S. Government and Union General George Meade deny the scheme.
March 2,1864-At the mouth of the Red River in Louisiana, Admiral David Porter's Mississippi Squadron begins to move toward Shreveport and east Texas. One worry for Porter is the decreasing water levels on the river. The squadron proceeds as planned.
March 3,1864-General Grant is ordered to Washington D.C. for an official promotion ceremony.
March 4,1864-Andrew Jackson is promoted to Tennessee Governor by the U.S. Senate. Pro-Union governor Michael Hahn is sworn into office at New Orleans, Louisiana.
March 4,1864-Advanced units of General Sherman's army begins to arrive back at Vicksburg after the Meridian Campaign. There are about 5,000 slaves and 3,000 draft animals with the Army, all having traveled 360 miles since leaving Meridian on February 22nd.
March 5,1864-All Southern vessels are force to donate half of their cargo capacity to government shipments as supplies were running short in the field. This move could also reduce wartime profiteering by the ship owners.
March 6,1864-Confederate gunboats fire on Union forces occupying Yazoo City, Mississippi, forcing the Union troops to vacate the city.
March 6,1864-General Andrew J. Smith is appointed to lead Army elements in the Red River expedition. General Sherman instructs General Smith to fully cooperate with Admiral Davis D. Porter in this joint operation.
March 6,1864-On the North Edisto River, North Carolina, a Confederate torpedo boat rams the USS Memphis twice but the spar torpedo fails to detonate. The spar entered the Memphis eight feet below the water line but the vessels was able to float away.
March 7,1864-General Longstreet was again urged to resume offensive operations in Kentucky or Tennessee by President Davis.
March 8,1864-In a White House Ceremony, General Grant accepts the high honor of being the only general to attain such a lofty rank and the first ever Four Star General. (George Washington retired as a lieutenant general with 'Three Stars' after the Revolutionary War and therefore was outranked by later four and five star generals. This was repaired on October 11, 1976 when Washington was posthumously promoted "General of the Armies of the United States" with no officer of the United States Army outranking Washington on the Army list.)
March 8,1864-A Union expedition led by General Grenville Dodge to Moulton and Courtland, Alabama nets supplies, ammunition, and provisions. General Franz Sigel is ordered to clear Confederate units out of the Shenandoah Valley immediately after he was appointed commander of the new Department of West Virginia.
March 8,1864-About 100 Copperheads (Northeners sympathetic to the Confederacy) kill five Union soldiers on furlough in Charleston, Illinois.
