Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
Please Note: The daily activity of the Civil War is slowing down for the winter months. While there are many officer promotions and reassignments, not many troop movements or battles take place for the next three months or so. I am changing the posting to cover up to two weeks of activity. - Jim Hachtel
October 13, 1861 - Confederate troops commanded by General Turner Ashby make a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Shelling of the village causes mills and storehouses to burn.
October 13, 1861 - General Thomas Williams succeeds General James K. F. Mansfield as commander of Union forces at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. (See two entries of Oct. 5,1861.)
October 14, 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln orders General Winfield Scott to suspend writs of habeas corpus from Maine to Washington, D.C. This is done to discourage treasonable activity in the region.
October 14, 1861 - At Port Royal, South Carolina, General Thomas W. Sherman is ordered to organize and arm fugitive slaves into military squads. This order came from Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
October 14, 1861 - C.S.A. General Braxton Bragg becomes commander of the newly created Department of Alabama, which includes western Florida.
October 15, 1861 - Confederate raiders based in southeastern Missouri and organized by former Virginia attorney Jeff Thompson, attack a Union outpost in Potosi, Missouri. They burn the Big River Bridge and take 33 prisoners, members of the Illinois 38th.
October 16, 1861 - Confederate soldiers request to return home and join state militias. Jefferson Davis denies the request.
October 16, 1861 - Union forces reoccupy Lexington, Missouri.
October 17, 1861 - Commodore Samuel F. Du Pont informs U. S. Navy Secretary Gideon Wells that Port Royal, South Carolina would be an important asset to the blockade effort.
October 18, 1861 - President Lincoln requests troops from the armies of General McClellan and General W. T. Sherman for an upcoming coastal expedition. Both Generals refuse stating that they are already under manned. Lincoln also meets with his cabinet to discuss the upcoming retirement of General Winfield Scott and his possible replacement.
October 18, 1861 - Confederate raider Jeff Thompson continues raids near Warrensburg in southern Missouri. This time he hits the 11th Missouri Regiment commanded by Colonel Joseph B. Plummer.
October 20, 1861 - General McClellan, pressured by Radical Republicans to assume the offensive, sends Colonel Charles P. Stone from his Maryland base to "demonstrate" near the Confederate lines near Leesburg, Virginia. Stone sends a single brigade of 1,700 men under political appointee and Lincoln friend, Colonel Edward D. Baker to make a "slight demonstration" to test Confederate reaction. Confederate Colonel Nathan G. Evans gets word of the advance of the Union force and prepares his defense.
October 21, 1861 - Colonel Edward Baker ferries his 1,700 men across the Potomac River at Ball's Bluff, Virginia and encounters a 100-foot high bluff on the landing shore. Confederate forces in the woods above the bluff take advantage of their superior position and 49 Union men are killed including Colonel Baker, 158 wounded and 714 captured. President Lincoln is shaken when he is informed of the death of his friend.
October 21, 1861 - Colonel Nathan G. Evans is promoted to brigadier general, C.S.A. to reward his Ball's Bluff performance.
October 21, 1861 - Colonel J. B. Plummer occupies Fredericktown, Missouri following a three-hour battle against Confederate Forces. (See Oct 18th entry.)
October 22, 1861 - General Pierre G. T. Beauregard retains command of the Division of the Potomac but the new Confederate Department of Virginia is carved out of the larger army with General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding.
October 22, 1861 - General Benjamin F. Kelly commands the new Department of Harpers Ferry for the Union.
October 22, 1861 - General Thomas J. Jackson leads Confederate forces into the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia.
October 23, 1861 - General W. T. Sherman is alarmed by the strength of Confederate defenses in Kentucky as skirmishing breaks out at Hodgeville and West Liberty, Kentucky.
October 24, 1861 - President Lincoln attends the funeral of his friend Colonel Edward D. Baker.
October 24, 1861 - Inhabitants of western Virginia endorse a plan to form their own state.
October 24, 1861 - Western Union completes the transcontinental telegraph.
October 25, 1861 - Springfield, Missouri is occupied by Union cavalry forces, actually a small force of General Fremont's bodyguards; Major Charles Zagonyi, commanding. The bold move resulted in a Union victory and is the lone praiseworthy achievement for General Fremont. (NOTE-Remember, Secretary of War Cameron was sent to Missouri to assess Fremont's performance.
Cameron arrived in Missouri October 11 and conducted interviews, inspected camps, and the general state of affairs.)
October 25, 1861 - The keel of the USS Monitor, Swedish inventor John Ericsson's one-turret warship, is laid at Greenpoint, New York.
October 26, 1861 - General Benjamin Butler reports that all Confederate forces are removed from western Virginia after skirmishing at Romney and South Branch Bridge.
October 26, 1861 - Missouri Home Guard commander Sterling Price and General John C. Fremont agree on a prisoner exchange.
October 27, 1861 - General John C. Fremont moves his Army toward Springfield in the mistaken belief that Sterling Price is still in that area. Price has long since retreated to safety due to Fremont's lethargic moves.
October 28, 1861 - Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston relieves General Simon B. Buckner at Bowling Green, Kentucky.
