1.
Second Battle of Corinth
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The Second Battle of Corinth was fought October 3–4,1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. For the second time in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans defeated a Confederate army, after the Battle of Iuka, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price marched his army to meet with Van Dorns. The fighting began on October 3 as the Confederates pushed the U. S. Army from the rifle pits originally constructed by the Confederates for the Siege of Corinth. The Confederates exploited a gap in the Union line and continued to press the Union troops until they fell back to an line of fortifications. On the second day of battle, the Confederates moved forward to meet heavy Union artillery fire, storming Battery Powell and Battery Robinett, a brief incursion into the town of Corinth was repulsed. After a U. S. counterattack recaptured Battery Powell, Van Dorn ordered a general retreat, Rosecrans did not pursue immediately and the Confederates escaped destruction. As Confederate General Braxton Bragg moved north from Tennessee into Kentucky in September 1862, Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army of the Tennessee. Since the conclusion of the Siege of Corinth that summer, Grants army had been engaged in protecting supply lines in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Price had hoped to combine his small army with Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorns Army of West Tennessee and disrupt Grants communications, Rosecranss pursuit of Price was ineffectual. After Iuka, Grant established his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee, ords three divisions of Grants Army of the Tennessee moved to Bolivar, Tennessee, northwest of Corinth, to join with Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut. Prices army marched to Ripley where it joined Van Dorn on September 28, Van Dorn was the senior officer and took command of the combined force, numbering about 22,000 men. They marched on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to Pocahontas, Tennessee, from this point they had a number of opportunities for further moves and Grant was uncertain about their intentions. When they bivouacked on October 2 at Chewalla, Grant became certain that Corinth was the target, the Confederates hoped to seize Corinth from an unexpected direction, isolating Rosecrans from reinforcements, and then sweep into Middle Tennessee. Grant sent word to Rosecrans to be prepared for an attack, at the same time directing Hurlbut to keep an eye on the enemy, despite the warning from Grant, Rosecrans was not convinced that Corinth was necessarily the target of Van Dorns advance. Beauregards army before it evacuated the town in May, the inner line of redoubts, closer to the town, called the Halleck Line, was much more substantial. His final stand would be made around the batteries on College Hill and his men were provided with three days rations and 100 rounds of ammunition. Rosecranss Army of the Mississippi was organized as follows, Division of Brig. Gen. David S. Stanley included the brigades of Cols, John W. Fuller and Joseph A. Mower. Division of Brig. Gen. Charles S. Hamilton included the brigades of Brig, cavalry division of Col. John K. Mizner included the brigades of Cols
2.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
3.
Corinth, Mississippi
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Corinth is a city in and the county seat of Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,573 at the 2010 census and its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835. Corinth was founded in 1853 as Cross City, so-called because it served as a junction for the Mobile & Ohio and Memphis & Charleston railroads. It was the early newspaper editor, W. E. Gibson. Corinths location at the junction of two made it strategically important to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Beauregard retreated to Corinth after the Battle of Shiloh, pursued by Union Major General Henry W. Halleck, General Beauregard abandoned the town when General Halleck approached, letting it fall into the Unions hands. Since Halleck approached so cautiously, digging entrenchments at every stop for over a month, the Union sent Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans to Corinth as well and concentrated its forces in the city. The Second Battle of Corinth took place on October 3−4,1862, the Confederate troops won back the city for a very brief period but were quickly forced out again on the same day when the Union troops were reinforced. Steele House Midtown Corinth Historic District Moores Creek site—a prehistoric Native American site from 3000 to 3500 B. C, post Office Rienzi Commercial Historic District Thomas F. S. Route 45 and U. S. Route 72 and it is the county seat of Alcorn County, which is the smallest county in area in the state of Mississippi. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 30.3 square miles, of which 30.2 square miles is land and 0.12 square miles. The population density was 461.5 people per square mile, there were 7,058 housing units at an average density of 231.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 76. 28% White,21. 60% African American,0. 09% Native American,0. 36% Asian,0. 12% Pacific Islander,0. 84% from other races, and 0. 73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 73% of the population, of all households,35. 6% were made up of individuals and 16. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the family size was 2.82. In the city, the population was out with 21. 8% under the age of 18,9. 3% from 18 to 24,25. 6% from 25 to 44,23. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males, the median income for a household in the city was $23,436, and the median income for a family was $35,232
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
8.
Henry Halleck
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Henry Wager Halleck was a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory and he was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer. Halleck served as General-in-Chief of all Union armies during the American Civil War, Early in the Civil War, Halleck was a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater. However, Halleck was not present at the battles, and his subordinates received most of the credit, the only operation in which Halleck exercised field command was the Siege of Corinth in a spring of 1862, a Union victory which he conducted with extreme caution. Halleck also developed rivalries with many of his generals, such as Ulysses S. Grant. In July 1862, following Major General George B, mcClellans failed Peninsula Campaign in the Eastern Theater, Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of all U. S. armies. Halleck served in capacity for about a year and a half. Halleck was a general who believed strongly in thorough preparations for battle and in the value of defensive fortifications over quick. President Abraham Lincoln once described him as more than a first rate clerk. In March of 1864, Grant was promoted to general-in-chief, without the pressure of having to control the movements of the armies, Halleck performed capably in this task, ensuring that the Union armies were well-equipped. Halleck was born on a farm in Westernville, Oneida County, New York, third child of 14 of Joseph Halleck, a lieutenant who served in the War of 1812, and Catherine Wager Halleck. Young Henry detested the thought of a life and ran away from home at an early age to be raised by an uncle. He attended Hudson Academy and Union College, then the United States Military Academy and he became a favorite of military theorist Dennis Hart Mahan and was allowed to teach classes while still a cadet. He graduated in 1839, third in his class of 31 cadets, returning home a first lieutenant, Halleck gave a series of twelve lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston that were subsequently published in 1846 as Elements of Military Art and Science. His scholarly pursuits earned him the nickname Old Brains, during the Mexican-American War, Halleck was assigned to duty in California. He was awarded a promotion to captain in 1847 for his gallant and meritorious service in California. He was transferred north to serve under General Bennet Riley, the general of the California Territory. Halleck was soon appointed military secretary of state, a position made him the governors representative at the 1849 convention in Monterey where the California state constitution was written
9.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
10.
George Henry Thomas
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George Henry Thomas was a United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War, one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater. Thomas served in the Mexican-American War and later chose to remain with the U. S. Army for the Civil War, despite his heritage as a Virginian. He won one of the first Union victories in the war, at Mill Springs in Kentucky and his stout defense at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863 saved the Union Army from being completely routed, earning him his most famous nickname, the Rock of Chickamauga. He followed soon after with a breakthrough on Missionary Ridge in the Battle of Chattanooga. Thomas had a record in the Civil War, but he failed to achieve the historical acclaim of some of his contemporaries, such as Ulysses S. Grant. He developed a reputation as a slow, deliberate general who shunned self-promotion, after the war, he did not write memoirs to advance his legacy. He also had a personal relationship with Grant, which served him poorly as Grant advanced in rank. Thomas was born at Newsoms Depot, Southampton County, Virginia and his father, John Thomas, of Welsh descent, and his mother, Elizabeth Rochelle Thomas, a descendant of French Huguenot immigrants, had six children. George had three sisters and two brothers, the family led an upper-class plantation lifestyle. By 1829, they owned 685 acres and 24 slaves, John died in a farm accident when George was 13, leaving the family in financial difficulties. George Thomas, his sisters, and his mother were forced to flee from their home. This was an event in the formation of his views on slavery. Christopher Einholf, in contrast wrote For George Thomas, the view that slavery was needed as a way of controlling blacks was supported by his experience of Nat Turners Rebellion. Thomas left no record of his opinion on slavery. A traditional story is that Thomas taught as many as 15 of his familys slaves to read, violating a Virginia law that prohibited this, Thomas was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1836 by Congressman John Y. Mason, who warned Thomas that no nominee from his district had ever graduated successfully, entering at age 20, Thomas was known to his fellow cadets as Old Tom and he became instant friends with his roommates, William T. Sherman and Stewart Van Vliet. He made steady progress, was appointed a cadet officer in his second year. He was appointed a lieutenant in Company D, 3rd U. S. Artillery
11.
Don Carlos Buell
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Don Carlos Buell was a United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole War, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. Buell led Union armies in two great Civil War battles—Shiloh and Perryville, the nation was angry at his failure to defeat the outnumbered Confederates after Perryville, or to secure East Tennessee. Historians concur that he was brave and industrious, and a master of logistics, Buell was relieved of field command in late 1862 and made no more significant military contributions. Don Carlos Buell was born in Lowell, Ohio and he was a first cousin of George P. Buell, also a Union general. He lived in Indiana for a time before the American Civil War, Military Academy in 1841 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U. S. In the Mexican-American War, he served under both Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott and he was brevetted three times for bravery and was wounded at Churubusco. Between the wars he served in the U. S. Army Adjutant Generals office and as an adjutant in California, at the start of the American Civil War, Buell was an early organizer of the Army of the Potomac and briefly commanded one of its divisions. He was promoted to general, with seniority dating from May 17,1861. In November 1861, he succeeded Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman in command at Louisville, Buells command was designated the Department of the Ohio and his troops the Army of the Ohio. Buells superiors wanted him to operate in eastern Tennessee, an area with Union sympathies, however, Buell essentially disregarded his orders and moved against Nashville instead, which he captured on February 25,1862, against little opposition. At the Battle of Shiloh, Buell reinforced Grant with three of the five divisions of the Army of the Ohio, about 20,000 men, Buell considered that his arrival was the primary reason that Grant avoided a major defeat. But Halleck needed to continually prod Buell to get his army to Pittsburg Landing in order to reinforce Grant, concentrating for a planned attack on the Confederate stronghold at Corinth. Although Buells army was only 90 miles east at Columbia, it one month to reach Pittsburg Landing. Buell considered himself the victor of the battle and denigrated Grants contribution, the commanders operated almost completely independently of each other and Buell proved slow and hesitant to commit himself. Following Shiloh, Henry Halleck arrived in person to command of Grant. The combined Union force,100,000 men strong, began an extremely sluggish pursuit against P. G. T, beauregards Army of Tennessee, which had retreated into northern Mississippi. Despite a more than 2-1 numerical advantage, Halleck took caution to an extreme, the Siege of Corinth ended in the Confederates abandoning the city on May 25. Afterwards, Halleck split up the two armies and sent Buell eastward to capture Chattanooga while Grant remained in the Corinth area
12.
John Pope (military officer)
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John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He had a stint in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run in the East. Pope was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1842 and he served in the Mexican-American War and had numerous assignments as a topographical engineer and surveyor in Florida, New Mexico, and Minnesota. He spent much of the last decade before the Civil War surveying possible routes for the proposed First Transcontinental Railroad. He was an early appointee as a Union brigadier general of volunteers and he achieved initial success against Brig. Gen. Sterling Price in Missouri, then led a successful campaign that captured Island No.10 on the Mississippi River. This inspired the Lincoln administration to bring him to the Eastern Theater to lead the newly formed Army of Virginia and he initially alienated many of his officers and men by publicly denigrating their record in comparison to his Western command. He launched an offensive against the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee, at Second Bull Run, he concentrated his attention on attacking Jackson while the other Confederate corps attacked his flank and routed his army. Following Manassas, Pope was banished far from the Eastern Theater to the Department of the Northwest in Minnesota, forces in the Dakota War of 1862. He was appointed to command the Department of the Missouri in 1865 and was a prominent, for the rest of his military career, he fought in the Indian Wars, particularly against the Apache and Sioux. Pope was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Nathaniel Pope, a prominent Federal judge in early Illinois Territory and he was the brother-in-law of Manning Force, and a distant cousin married the sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He served in Florida and then helped survey the border between the United States and Canada. He fought under Zachary Taylor in the Battle of Monterrey and Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War, for which he was appointed a brevet first lieutenant and captain, after the war Pope worked as a surveyor in Minnesota. In 1850 he demonstrated the navigability of the Red River and he served as the chief engineer of the Department of New Mexico from 1851 to 1853 and spent the remainder of the antebellum years surveying a route for the Pacific Railroad. Pope was serving on duty when Abraham Lincoln was elected and he was one of four officers selected to escort the president-elect to Washington. He offered to serve Lincoln as an aide, but on June 14,1861, in the Department of the West under Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont, Pope assumed command of the District of North and Central Missouri in July and he had an uncomfortable relationship with Frémont and politicked behind the scenes to get him removed from command. Frémont was convinced that Pope had treacherous intentions toward him, demonstrated by his lack of action in following Frémonts offensive plans in Missouri, historian Allan Nevins wrote, Actually, incompetence and timidity offer a better explanation of Pope than treachery, though he certainly showed an insubordinate spirit
13.
P. G. T. Beauregard
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Beauregard was a Southern military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard. He signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard, trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy, Beauregard served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican–American War. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12,1861, three months later he won the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Beauregard commanded armies in the Western Theater, including at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, and he returned to Charleston and defended it in 1863 from repeated naval and land attacks by Union forces. His influence over Confederate strategy was lessened by his professional relationships with President Jefferson Davis. In April 1865, Beauregard and his commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, convinced Davis, Johnston surrendered most of the remaining armies of the Confederacy, including Beauregard and his men, to Major General William T. Sherman. Following his military career, Beauregard returned to Louisiana, where he served as a railroad executive, Beauregard was born at the Contreras sugar-cane plantation in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, about 20 miles outside New Orleans, to a French Creole family. He had three brothers and three sisters, Beauregard attended New Orleans private schools and then went to a French school in New York City. During his four years in New York, beginning at age 12, he learned to speak English and he then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. One of his instructors was Robert Anderson, who became the commander of Fort Sumter. Upon enrolling at West Point, Beauregard dropped the hyphen from his surname and treated Toutant as a middle name, from that point on, he rarely used his first name, preferring G. T. Beauregard. He graduated second in his class in 1838 and excelled both as an artilleryman and military engineer and his Army friends gave him many nicknames, Little Creole, Bory, Little Frenchman, Felix, and Little Napoleon. During the Mexican–American War, Beauregard served as an engineer under General Winfield Scott and he was appointed brevet captain for the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and major for Chapultepec, where he was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. He was noted for his eloquent performance in a meeting with Scott in which he convinced the general officers to change their plan for attacking the fortress of Chapultepec. He was one of the first officers to enter Mexico City, Beauregard returned from Mexico in 1848. For the next 12 years, he was in charge of what the Engineer Department called the Mississippi, much of his engineering work was done elsewhere, repairing old forts and building new ones on the Florida coast and in Mobile, Alabama. He also improved the defenses of Forts St. Philip and Jackson on the Mississippi River below New Orleans and he worked on a board of Army and Navy engineers to improve the navigation of the shipping channels at the mouth of the Mississippi
14.
Braxton Bragg
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Bragg, a native of North Carolina, was educated at West Point and became an artillery officer. He served in Florida and then received three brevet promotions for distinguished service in the Mexican-American War, most notably the Battle of Buena Vista. After a series of posts in the Indian Territory, he resigned from the U. S. Army in 1856 to become a plantation owner in Louisiana. During the Civil War, Bragg trained soldiers in the Gulf Coast region and he was a corps commander at the Battle of Shiloh and subsequently was named to command the Army of Mississippi. He and Edmund Kirby Smith attempted an invasion of Kentucky in 1862, in December, he fought another inconclusive battle at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Battle of Stones River, but once again withdrew his army. In 1863, he fought a series of battles against Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, in June, he was outmaneuvered in the Tullahoma Campaign and retreated into Chattanooga. In November, Braggs army was routed in turn by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Battles for Chattanooga. The defeat at Chattanooga was the last straw, and Bragg was recalled in early 1864 to Richmond, near the end of the war, he defended Wilmington, North Carolina, and served as a corps commander in the Carolinas Campaign. After the war Bragg worked as the superintendent of the New Orleans waterworks, a supervisor of improvements at Mobile, Alabama. Bragg is generally considered among the worst generals of the Civil War, although his commands often outnumbered those he fought against, most of the battles in which he engaged ended in defeats. The only exception was Chickamauga, which was due to the timely arrival of Lieutenant General James Longstreets corps. Most historians fault Bragg for impatience and poor treatment of others, Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, one of the six sons of Thomas and Margaret Crosland Bragg. One of his brothers was future Confederate Attorney General Thomas Bragg. He was often ridiculed as a child because of rumors about his mothers prison sentence for murdering an African American freeman. Grady McWhiney, the biographer of Braggs early life and career, states that despite these rumors. He was descended from Thomas Bragg, who was born in England, in the thousands of letters that Bragg wrote during his lifetime, he spoke fondly of his father, but never mentioned his mother. When Bragg was only ten old, his father decided on a military career for him. Eventually the oldest Bragg son, John, recently elected as a state legislator, senator Willie P. Mangum and West Point admitted Braxton at the age of 16
15.
Earl Van Dorn
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Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer and great-nephew of Andrew Jackson, fighting with distinction during the Mexican–American War and against several tribes of Native Americans. The former military installation Camp Van Dorn is named for him, in the American Civil War, he served as a Confederate general, appointed commander of the Trans-Mississippi District. At the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862, he was defeated through a failure of reconnaissance. He then scored two notable successes as a commander, capturing a large Union supply depot at Holly Springs. In May 1863, he was dead at his headquarters at Spring Hill by a doctor who claimed that Van Dorn had carried on an affair with his wife. Van Dorn was born near Port Gibson in Claiborne County, Mississippi, to Sophia Donelson Caffery, a niece of Andrew Jackson, and Peter Aaron Van Dorn and he had eight siblings among whom were two sisters, Emily Van Dorn Miller and Octavia Van Dorn Sulivane. His sister Octavia, had a son, Clement Sulivane, who was a captain in the CSA forces and served on Earls staff, in December 1843 Earl married Caroline Godbold, and they had a son named Earl Van Dorn, Jr. and a daughter named Olivia. In 1838 Van Dorn attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and his family relations to Andrew Jackson had secured him an appointment there. He was appointed a second lieutenant in the 7th U. S. Infantry Regiment on July 1,1842, and began his Army service in the Southern United States, Van Dorn and the 7th were on garrison duty at Fort Pike, Louisiana, in 1842 to 1843, and were stationed at Fort Morgan, Alabama, briefly in 1843. Van Dorn was part of the 7th U. S, Van Dorn saw action at the Battle of Monterrey on September 21–23,1846, and during the Siege of Vera Cruz from March 9–29,1847. He was then transferred to Gen. Winfield Scotts command in early 1847, Van Dorn was wounded in the foot near Mexico City on September 3, and wounded again during the storming of the Belén Gate on September 13. After the war with Mexico, Van Dorn served as aide-de-camp to Brev, Gen P. F. Smith from April 3,1847, to May 20,1848. He and the 7th were in garrison at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1848 into 1849 and he saw action in Florida against the Seminoles from 1849 to 1850, and was on recruiting service in 1850 and 1851. From 1852 to 1855 Van Dorn was stationed at the East Pascagoula Branch Military Asylum in Mississippi and he spent the remainder of 1855 stationed at New Orleans, Louisiana, briefly on recruiting service again, and then in garrison back at Jefferson Barracks. He was promoted to captain in the 2nd Cavalry on March 3,1855. Van Dorn and the 2nd were on duty at Fort Belknap and Camp Cooper, Texas, in 1855 and 1856, scouting in northern Texas in 1856. Van Dorn saw further action against the Seminoles and also the Comanches in the Indian Territory and he was wounded four separate times there, including seriously when he commanded an expedition against Comanches and took two arrows at the Battle of Wichita Village on October 1,1858
16.
Army of the Tennessee
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The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. It should not be confused with the similarly named Army of Tennessee, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Unions District of West Tennessee. In April 1862, Grants troops survived a severe test in the bloody Battle of Shiloh. In October 1862, Grants command was reconfigured and elevated to status, as the Department of the Tennessee. Grant commanded these forces until after his critically important victory at Vicksburg in July 1863 and it should suffice to note that the nucleus around which was to gather the. Army of the Tennessee first took shape in 1861–1862, while Grant was headquartered at Cairo and those troops continued under Grant in his next command, the distinct District of West Tennessee, they were then sometimes, and perhaps most appropriately, called the Army of West Tennessee. During the course of the war, elements of the Army of the Tennessee performed many tasks, and it is not feasible to chronicle every such development here, even at the corps level. Rather, this article traces the main thrust of the armys development, at any given time, substantial numbers of troops were engaged in activities not discussed here. For example, in April 1863, less than half of Grants departmental strength was directly engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, one of Grants wartime aides, John A. Rawlins, later stated that rom this time. Commenced the growth and organization of the Army of the Tennessee, paducah promptly became a separate Union command under Brig. Gen. Charles F. Smith, who soon occupied Smithland, Kentucky, at the junction of the Cumberland River and the Ohio. Grants own first engagement came on November 7 at Belmont, Missouri, Grants casualties in this first battle totaled about 500, Confederate casualties were similar. While Grant had suffered a repulse, he won favorable press coverage and this battle, reports Rawlins, confirmed General Grant in his views that he should give battle whenever he had what he thought a sufficient number of men. Also in November, John Fremont lost his command at St. Louis, to be replaced by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, on December 20, Grants command was reconfigured to include C. F. Smiths and renamed the District of Cairo, from that perch, in February 1862, Grant led the Union campaign against Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. His troops for this campaign eventually numbered approximately 27,000 men, Smith, and Brig. Gen. Lewis Wallace. Grant initially moved up the Tennessee River to Fort Henry with only two divisions, McClernands and Smiths. On February 6, even before he could organize his force for attack, additional Union regiments arrived at Fort Donelson by water, these were formed into the new 3rd Division under Lew Wallace. The Battle of Fort Donelson began on February 13 and, after sharp fighting, another historian notes that Grants troops had performed prodigies of valor and endurance during the campaign and had learned from it that hard fighting would bring success
17.
Army of the Ohio
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The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the army was created in 1863. General Orders No.97 appointed Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell to command the Department of the Ohio, all the forces of the department were then organized into the Army of the Ohio, with Buell in command. Early in 1862, the army fought its first battle at Mill Springs, although only the 1st Division, the whole army marched to reinforce Grants Army of the Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh. However, Thomas foresaw a major battle and felt it unwise to change an army commander on the eve of battle, thus Buell remained in command of the Army and Thomas was made his second-in-command. The battle Thomas foresaw occurred on October 8,1862, west of Perryville, Confederate General Braxton Bragg had marched into Kentucky to recruit soldiers and take the state from the Union. The full force of Buells command was gathering when Bragg attacked, known as the Battle of Perryville, or the Battle of Chandler Hills, casualties were very high on both sides. Although Union losses were higher, Bragg withdrew from Kentucky when the fighting was over, Buell was subsequently relieved of all field command. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was appointed to command the Army of Ohio and he was also appointed to command of the Department of the Cumberland and subsequently renamed his forces the Army of the Cumberland. On 25 March 1863, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Department of the Ohio, Burnside consolidated all the forces of the department and created the XXIII Corps, which was also styled the Army of the Ohio, with himself in command. He became one of the few officers to command two completely different armies. The new Army of the Ohio first repelled Morgans Ohio raid, next Burnside moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Here the IX Corps was added and the army grew to two corps, plus a division of cavalry, Burnside defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Fort Sanders in the Knoxville Campaign. After the battle, he asked to be relieved of command due to illness, Maj. Gen. John G. Foster replaced Burnside as commander of the Army and Department of the Ohio on December 9. Fosters time in command of the Army was short, on February 9,1864, Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield assumed command of the Department of the Ohio, and then the Army of the Ohio and the XXIII Corps in April. During this time the XXIII Corps and the Army of the Ohio were synonymous, Schofield led the Army during the Atlanta Campaign and pursued Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood into Tennessee after the fall of Atlanta. At the Battle of Franklin, Schofield inflicted a defeat on Hoods army before joining with Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas. On February 9,1865, Schofield was transferred to command the Department of North Carolina, when Schofield departed to assume departmental command, Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox temporarily assumed command of the Army
18.
Army of the Mississippi
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Army of the Mississippi was the name given to two Union armies that operated around the Mississippi River, both with short existences, during the American Civil War. The first army was created on February 23,1862, with Maj. Gen. John Pope in command, at its creation the army consisted of 2 divisions of infantry for service along the Mississippi River. When General Pope began to move against New Madrid, Missouri, the army now totaled 5 divisions commanded respectively by David S. Stanley, Schuyler Hamilton, John M. Palmer, Eleazar A. Gordon Granger commanded the Cavalry Division of two regiments and Napoleon B, in this capacity the Army fought at the Battle of Island Number Ten. After the capture of Island No, Ten the armys divisions were consolidated into 3 divisions and became the Left Wing of Maj. Gen. Henry Hallecks Western Army Group. Daviss division from the Army of the Southwest was added, becoming the 4th Division, during the Siege of Corinth the Army of the Mississippi was consolidated into two wings of two divisions each. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans commanded the Left Wing, after the capture of Corinth Pope was sent east to command the Army of Virginia and Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans assumed command of the Army of the Mississippi. The army was posted to the city of Corinth and its position there was strengthened by two divisions from the Army of West Tennessee and fought at the battles of Iuka and Corinth. Rosecrans was transferred to command of the Army of the Ohio and the current army was discontinued in October 1862, in 1863 Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand was put in command of the expedition against down the Mississippi. He was given command of two corps from the Army of the Tennessee, his own XIII Corps led by Brig. Gen. George W. Morgan and Maj. Gen. William T. Shermans XV Corps. McClernand named his force the Army of the Mississippi and redesignated the XIII Corps the I Corps, Army of the Mississippi, McClernand was successful in capturing Arkansas Post. Army Organization during the Civil War Army of the Mississippi
19.
Army of Tennessee
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The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865 and it should not be confused with the Union Army of the Tennessee, named after the Tennessee River. The army was formed on November 20,1862, when General Braxton Bragg renamed the former Army of Mississippi and was divided into two corps commanded by Leonidas Polk and William J. Hardee, the remaining division was assigned to Hardees corps while Kirby Smith returned to East Tennessee. The armys cavalry was consolidated into a command under Joseph Wheeler. The armys first major engagement under its new name took place against the Army of the Cumberland on December 31 along the Stones River. The attacks started at 6 a. m. against the Union right wing and forced the Union flank back towards the Union supply route to Nashville, Bragg expected Union commander William S. Rosecrans to retreat during the night but Rosecrans decided to remain. No fighting took place on January 1, the next day Bragg assigned one division to seize a ridge on the east side of Stones River, Bragg retreated during the night and halted near the Duck River. When he learned of the dispute, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent Joseph Johnston to inspect the army, Johnston however refused to take command of the army. In the summer of 1863, Rosecrans began an offensive, generally known as the Tullahoma Campaign, due to the low level of the river, Bragg felt compelled to retreat back to his supply center of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he established his headquarters. When the Union forces halted following the campaign, Bragg took the opportunity to make several changes in the army. Hardee was transferred to Mississippi in July and replaced by D. H. Hill, the cavalry was reorganized into two corps commanded by Wheeler and Forrest, a two-division Reserve Corps was also organized under the command of W. H. T. Rosecrans launched the Chickamauga Campaign in late August, staging demonstrations near Chattanooga and this convinced Bragg that Rosecrans was crossing the river to the north, however, Union forces were actually crossing to the south of the city. This forced Bragg to fall back into northern Georgia, abandoning the important railroad hub of Chattanooga on September 8, over the course of the next several days, Bragg attempted to launch several attacks on isolated parts of the Union army but each attempt failed. During September 19 at Chickamauga, both sides fed in reinforcements as the day progressed, Polk was ordered to attack at daylight on September 20, with Longstreet attacking immediately afterwards, but Polk didnt launch his attack until midmorning. The left wing failed to dislodge the Union army but Longstreets wing attacked a gap in the Union army which routed the Union right flank. A portion of the Union army rallied on Horseshoe Ridge and held off multiple Confederate attacks until evening, when it followed the rest of Rosecrans army into Chattanooga. Bragg considered an attack on the city too costly. Instead he spread the Confederate army along the Tennessee River, cutting the Union railroad supply line into the city, during the next several weeks, Bragg became embroiled with a dispute with the armys corps commanders
20.
Army of the West (1862)
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For the U. S. army during the Mexican-American War see Army of the West, and for the French Revolutionary army unit see Army of the West. It saw action in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Battle of Corinth and Battle of Iuka, the troops which formed Prices command in Arkansas and Missouri from 1863 to 1865 continued to be popularly called the Army of the West. Prices troops were formally reconstituted as the Army of Missouri when they began Prices Raid in an 1864 attempt to recapture Missouri. Both Price and McCulloch feuded with each other concerning the proper Confederate strategy in the Trans–Mississippi area, the Confederates settled into winter quarters in the northern Boston Mountains, where Price immediately started feuding with McCulloch again. 2, commanded by General Albert Johnston, once he arrived in Arkansas, Van Dorn designated each command a division and enlisted additional troops, organizing them into the 19th and 20th Arkansas Infantry regiments. He also ordered Brigadier General Albert Pike to bring his brigade from the Indian Territory to Arkansas but only two regiments reached Van Dorns army before the campaign started. At this time, McCulloch received permission to head around the shoulder of Big Mountain and meet up with Price near Elkhorn Tavern. However, a portion of the Union army, commanded by Brigadier General Franz Sigel intercepted McCullochs men near the southwest corner of Big Mountain. Pike was able to rally a portion of the division and lead it back to the Bentonville Detour, where it marched around the northern end of Big Mountain and to Elkhorn Tavern. Colonel Elkanah Greer of the 3rd Texas Cavalry took command of another portion of the division and, after holding his position until after dark, meanwhile, Prices force, accompanied by Van Dorn, arrived near Elkhorn Tavern to find Colonel Eugene Carrs Union division defending the crest. Price deployed the State Guard on his left and the Missouri Confederate brigades on the right, following an artillery bombardment, curtis concentrated his army around the Confederate positions near Elkhorn Tavern during the night, at dawn he started an artillery bombardment which lasted two hours. Due to having no ammunition reserves nearby, the Confederates soon ran low on artillery shells. Van Dorn ordered his army to retreat towards the east before moving southwards, once the army arrived at Van Buren, Van Dorn reorganized it into a single division under Price, with four infantry brigades, two cavalry brigades, and an artillery brigade. At this time, General P. G. T. Beauregard, acting for Johnston, ordered Van Dorn to bring his army to Corinth, following the transfer of the Army of the West to Corinth, part of the army was incorporated into the Army of Mississippi. The remaining units were reorganized by Price into two divisions commanded by Brigadier Generals Henry Little and Dabney Maury, with a brigade commanded by Colonel Frank Armstrong. As part of the preparations for the Perryville campaign, the new commander of Department No,2, General Braxton Bragg, divided Mississippi into several commands to defend the state in his absence. In the meantime, Price launched an offensive without waiting for Van Dorns forces and he captured without a fight the town of Iuka on September 14, along with many supplies abandoned by the Union garrison. The two columns reached Iuka on September 19 but due to communications and misunderstanding, Grant failed to attack as planned
21.
Battle of Fort Henry
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The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6,1862, in western Middle Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, on February 4 and 5, Grant landed two divisions just north of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Grants plan was to advance upon the fort on February 6 while it was being attacked by Union gunboats commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. The surrender of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee River to Union traffic south of the Alabama border, in the days following the forts surrender, from February 6 through February 12, Union raids used timberclad boats to destroy Confederate shipping and railroad bridges along the river. On February 12, Grants army proceeded overland 12 miles to engage with Confederate troops in the Battle of Fort Donelson, in early 1861 the critical border state of Kentucky had declared neutrality in the American Civil War. This neutrality was first violated on September 3, when Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, acting on orders from Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, occupied Columbus, Kentucky. Two days later, Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Henceforth, neither adversary respected Kentuckys proclaimed neutrality, the buffer zone that Kentucky provided between the North and the South was no longer available to assist in the defense of Tennessee. By early 1862, a general, Albert Sidney Johnston, commanded all the Confederate forces from Arkansas to the Cumberland Gap. Forts Henry and Donelson were the sole positions defending the important Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, if these rivers were opened to Union military traffic, two direct invasion paths would lead into Tennessee and beyond. By January 1862, the disunity was apparent because they could not agree on a strategy for operations in the Western Theater, Buell, under political pressure to invade and hold pro-Union eastern Tennessee, moved slowly in the direction of Nashville. In Hallecks department, Grant moved up the Tennessee River to divert attention from Buells intended advance, Halleck and the other generals in the West were coming under political pressure from President Abraham Lincoln to participate in a general offensive by Washingtons birthday. Despite his tradition of caution, Halleck eventually reacted positively to Grants proposal to move against Fort Henry, Halleck hoped that this would improve his standing in relation to his rival, Buell. Halleck and Grant were also concerned about rumors that Confederate General P. G. T, beauregard would soon arrive with 15 Confederate regiments. On January 30,1862, Halleck authorized Grant to take Fort Henry, Grant wasted no time, leaving Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, on February 2. His invasion force, which arrived on the Tennessee River on February 4 and 5, john A. McClernand and Charles F. Smith, and the Western Gunboat Flotilla, commanded by United States Navy Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. The flotilla included four ironclad gunboats under Footes direct command, insufficient transport ships this early in the war to deliver all of the army troops in a single operation required two trips upriver to reach the fort. Fort Henry was a five-sided, open-bastioned earthen structure covering 10 acres on the bank of the Tennessee River. The site was one mile above Panther Creek and about six miles below the mouth of the Big Sandy River
22.
Battle of Fort Donelson
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The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 12–16,1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South. The Unions success also elevated Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, the battle followed the Union capture of Fort Henry on February 6. Grant moved his army 12 miles overland to Fort Donelson on February 12 and 13, on February 15, with the fort surrounded, the Confederates, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, launched an attack against the right flank of Grants army in an attempt to open an escape route to Nashville. Grant, who was away from the battlefield at the start of the attack, arrived to rally his men, despite achieving partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd lost his nerve and ordered his men back to the fort. The battle of Fort Donelson, which began on February 12, took place shortly after the surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee, on February 6,1862. Fort Henry had been a key position in the center of a line defending Tennessee, about 2,500 of Fort Henrys Confederate defenders escaped before its surrender by marching the 12 miles east to Fort Donelson. With the surrender of Fort Henry, the Confederates faced some difficult choices, Grants army now divided Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnstons two main forces, P. G. T. Beauregard at Columbus, Kentucky, with 12,000 men, Fort Donelson had only about 5,000 men. Johnston was apprehensive about the ease with which Union gunboats defeated Fort Henry and he was more concerned about the threat from Buell than he was from Grant, and suspected the river operations might simply be a diversion. Johnston decided upon a course of action that forfeited the initiative across most of his defensive line, Johnston wanted to give command of Fort Donelson to Beauregard, who had performed ably at Bull Run, but the latter declined because of a throat ailment. Instead, the responsibility went to Brig. Gen. John B, Floyd, who had just arrived following an unsuccessful assignment under Robert E. Lee in western Virginia. Floyd was a man in the North for alleged graft. Floyds background was political, not military, but he was nevertheless the senior general on the Cumberland River. On the Union side, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Halleck had authorized Grant to capture Fort Henry, but now he felt that continuing to Fort Donelson was risky. Despite Grants success to date, Halleck had little confidence in him, Halleck attempted to convince his own rival, Don Carlos Buell, to take command of the campaign to get his additional forces engaged. Despite Johnstons high regard for Buell, the Union general was as passive as Grant was aggressive
23.
Battle of Shiloh
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The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7,1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union force known as the Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. T. Beauregard, launched an attack on Grants army from its base in Corinth. Johnston was killed in action during the fighting, Beauregard, who succeeded to command of the army. Overnight Grant was reinforced by one of his own divisions stationed further north and was joined by three divisions from another Union army under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell. This allowed them to launch a counterattack the next morning which completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day. On April 6, the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river, Johnston hoped to defeat Grants army before the anticipated arrival of General Buells Army of the Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fighting, and Grants men instead fell back to the northeast. A Union position on a sunken road, nicknamed the Hornets Nest. Benjamin Prentisss and William H. L. Wallaces divisions, provided critical time for the remainder of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of artillery batteries. Wallace was mortally wounded when the position collapsed, while several regiments from the two divisions were surrounded and surrendered. General Johnston was shot in the leg and bled to death while leading an attack. Beauregard, his second in command, acknowledged how tired the army was from the days exertions, Confederate forces were forced to retreat from the area, ending their hopes of blocking the Union advance into northern Mississippi. Smiths orders were to lead raids intended to capture or damage the railroads in southwestern Tennessee, Brig. Gen. William T. Shermans troops arrived from Paducah, Kentucky, to conduct a similar mission to break the railroads near Eastport, Mississippi. Halleck also ordered Grant to advance his Army of West Tennessee on an invasion up the Tennessee River, Grant left Fort Henry and headed upriver, arriving at Savannah, Tennessee, on March 14, and established his headquarters on the east bank of the river. Grants troops set up camp farther upriver, five divisions at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, meanwhile, Hallecks command was enlarged through consolidation of Grants and Buells armies and renamed the Department of the Mississippi. With Buells Army of the Ohio under his command, Halleck ordered Buell to concentrate with Grant at Savannah, Buell began a march with much of his army from Nashville, Tennessee, and headed southwest toward Savannah. The railroad was a supply line connecting the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee to Richmond. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant developed a reputation during the war for being concerned with his own plans than with those of the enemy
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