Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
October 28, 1862 - The USS Montgomery captures the Confederate steamer "Carolina" off Pensacola, Florida.
October 28, 1862 - The Army of the Potomac under command of General George B. McClellan begins to slowly move north toward Warrenton, Virginia. Robert E. Lee falls back toward Richmond and extends his lines to prevent being encircled by the northern army.
October 28, 1862 - About 3,000 Confederates, retreating from the Kentucky Campaign, are engaged by 1,000 Union troops at Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Union force is commanded by General Samuel R. Curtis of the Army of the Frontier.
October 28, 1862 - The first black regiment to see combat, the 79th Colored Infantry from Kansas, is involved in action at Island Mounds, Missouri.
October 28, 1862 - Lieutenant John T. Wood, C.S.N., leads a raid capturing the Union ship "Alleghanian" off the mouth of the Rappahannock River, Chesapeake Bay.
October 28, 1862 - The CSS Alabama crew captures and burns the Union bark "Lauraetta" off Halifax.
October 29, 1862 - President Lincoln writes to General McClellan, "When you get entirely across the river, let me know. What do you know of the enemy?" He has no comment on the snail's
pace movement that is the usual for the Army of the Potomac under McClellan.
October 29, 1862 - The continued bad news from the west causes President Jefferson Davis to write, "Our only alternatives are to abandon important points or to use our limited resources as effectively as circumstances permit." This is in reaction to the failure of the Kentucky Campaign and the gathering of Union forces ever closer to Vicksburg.
October 29, 1862 - Near Petersburg in western Virginia, Federal troops recapture about 200 head of the cattle General J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry gathered in their raid near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
October 30, 1862 - Emperor Napoleon III suggests that France, Great Britain, and Russia form a mediation board to end the American War. If that failed, he suggested recognition of the Confederate States of America.
October 30, 1862 - Command of The Union Department of the South is resumed by General John M. Brannen following the death from illness of General Ormsby M. Mitchell at Beaufort, South Carolina.
October 30, 1862 - The U.S. Navy offers a reward of $500,000 for the capture of Confederate Raider CSS Alabama, formerly British "290." About a dozen Union ships joint the pursuit.
October 31, 1862 - General Ulysses S. Grant amasses 30,000 Union troops at Grand Junction, Tennessee in preparation for advance on Vicksburg, Mississippi.
October 31, 1862 - Lacking warships, the Confederate Congress authorizes formation of a Torpedo Bureau headed by General Gabriel Rains and a Naval Submarine Battery Service under Lieutenant Hunter Davidson. Together, these two units test and deploy many devices that ultimately sink or damage some 40 Union vessels.
November 1, 1862 - General Benjamin Butler issues a new order in New Orleans. This time he restricts movement into or out of the city and frees all slaves of "non loyal" citizens.
November 1, 1862 - Leaving Grand Junction, Tennessee, General Grant moves his army toward Holly Springs, an important rail junction. Moving in three columns, the Union force advances along the Mississippi Central Railroad.
November 1, 1862 - Captain Raphael Semmes aboard the CSS Alabama leads a successful capture and destruction of the Union whaler "Levi Starbuck" near Bermuda.
November 1, 1862 - The USS Louisville captures the Confederate steamer "Evansville" near Island No.36 on the Mississippi River.
November 3, 1862 - General James Longstreet's corps sets up a blocking position near Culpeper Court House, Virginia in front of the Army of the Potomac.
November 3, 1862 - Confederate guerrillas attack and capture a Union supply train at Harrisonville, Missouri. This is William C. Quantrill's band.
November 3, 1862 - Assistant Naval Secretary Gustavus Fox is urged by Commander Henry Thatcher to deploy more warships to the Mediterranean to preclude Confederate raids there.
November 3, 1862 - A second source of history of the Civil War cites the first black unit activity on this date. They report that the Union landed black troops on the coast of Georgia and Florida. This involved the 1st South Carolina Volunteers commanded by Colonel Thomas W. Higginson. (See the October 28th entry above.)
November 3, 1862 - Near Shallotte Inlet, North Carolina, the USS Penobscot runs the British blockade-runner "Pathfinder" aground.
