October 15
1861

Skirmishes near and at Blackwell Station and the destruction of the Big River Bridge, near Potosi, MO, with M. Jeff Thompson's Confederates capturing 33 men from the 38th IL Regiment.

Operations about Ironton and Fredericktown, MO.

Skirmish on the Little River Turnpike, VA, with Lieut. Col. Isaac M. Tucker, 2nd NJ Infantry.

1862

Eliakim Parker Scammon, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish at Fort Gibson, the Indian Territory.

Skirmishes at Crab Orchard and Barren Mound, KY.

Operations against guerrillas in the counties of Henry, Owen, and Gallatin, KY. (Oct 15-20)

Skirmish at Neely's Bend, Cumberland River, TN.

Skirmish near Carrsville, VA.

1863

Skirmish at Creek Agency, the Indian Territory.

Skirmish at Brownsville, MS.

Skirmishes on the Canton Road, near Brownsville, MS.

Skirmish at Cross Timbers, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

The Confederate experimental submarine, H.L. Hunley, sinks along with 8 crewmembers, including its inventor, Huntley, Charleston Harbor, Charleston, SC.

Skirmish at Bristol, TN.

Skirmish near Philadelphia, TN.

Skirmishes at McLean's, or Liberty Mills, Blackburn's, and Mitchell's Fords, on Bull Run, and Manassas and Oak Hill, VA, the Bristoe Campaign.

Affair near Hedgesville, WV, as the Federals capture the entire party of 37 Confederates attempting to burn the Back Creek Bridge.

1864

Skirmish at Snake Creek Gap, GA.

Skirmish at Bayou Liddell, LA.

Skirmish at Hernando, MS.

The action at, and capture of Glasgow, MO, by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

The surrender of Paris, MO, to Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

The affair at, and occupation of Sedalia, MO, by Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA, under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price.

Skirmish at Mossy Creek, TN.

Federal expedition from Bernard's Mills to Murfree's Station, VA, and skirmish (Oct 16) at the Blackwater, as the Yankees continue to destroy precious and limited Confederate supplies, including bacon and 4 barrels of apple brandy. I wonder if the brandy was really destroyed? (Oct 15-17)

October 15

Births:
1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer (d. 1907)

Deaths:
1810 – Alfred Moore, American judge (b. 1755)

October 16
1861

The Federal troops descend upon, and occupy Lexington, MO.

Skirmish near Linn Creek, MO, with Maj. Clark Wright, Fremont Battalion, MO Cavalry.

Skirmish at Warsaw, MO.

Skirmish at Bolivar Heights, near Harper's Ferry, WV, with Lieut. Col. Turner Ashby, CSA, Cavalry.

1862

Brig. Gen. George Burgwyn Anderson, CSA, dies at Raleigh, NC, from complications of wounds received on September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, MD.

Skirmishes at Shell's Mill, MO, and Elkhorn Tavern, AR.

Operations in Bath, Powell, Estill, Clark, Montgomery, and Bourbon Counties, KY. (Oct 16-25)

Skirmishes at Mountain Gap and Mount Vernon, KY.

Skirmishes near Mount Vernon, at Wild Cat Mountain, and Big Rockcastle Creek, KY.

Federal reconnaissance of portion of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac from Sharpsburg, MD, to Smithfield, WV, including skirmishes near Kearneysville and Shepherdstown. (Oct 16-17)

Skirmish at Auxvasse Creek, Callaway County, MO, with the Federal attack on a guerrilla camp.

Affair at Portland, MO.

The Dept. of the Tennessee is constituted, under the command of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA.

Brig. Gen. John Echols, CSA, supersedes Maj. Gen. William W. Loring, CSA, in the command of the Dept. of Western Virginia.

Federal reconnaissance of portion of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army from Harper's Ferry to Charlestown, WV, and skirmish en route.

1863

Engagement at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, FL, with the destruction of two Confederate blockade runners by the US ironclads, the Tahoma, and the Adele.

Skirmish at Grand Coteau, LA, with Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, USA.

Federal expedition from Natchez, MS, to Red River, LA. (Oct 16-20)

Skirmish at Treadwell's, near Clinton, and Vernon Cross-Roads, MS.

The Military Division of the Mississippi (consisting of the:
a) Dept. of the Cumberland,
b) Dept. of the Ohio, and of the
c) Dept. of the Tennessee, is created, and Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, is assigned to assigned to the command. Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, USA, is ordered to command the Dept. of the Cumberland, vice Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, USA, is relieved of command, partly due to the Union loss at Chattanooga, TN. Rosecrans' military career is effectively over.

Skirmish on Deer Creek, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

Skirmishes near and at Humansville, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

Skirmish at Johnstown, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

Affairs at Pungo Landing, NC, as the Federals leave Great Bridge, VA, aboard the steamer, Fawn, are fired upon from shore, sustaining casualties. The Federals land and burn the houses from where the shots came from and also find the tugboat, White, and other small craft destroyed by the Confederates. (Oct 16-17)

Skirmish near Island No. 10, TN.

1864

Federal expedition from Devall's Bluff aboard the steamer, Celeste, on the Cache River, toward Clarendon, AR, in search of Confederates. (Oct 16-17)

Skirmish at Ship's Gap, GA, as Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood, CSA, and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA, continue to spar.

Skirmish near Morganza, LA.

The Confederate capture of Ridgely, MO, by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's, CSA, Cavalry raid into West Tennessee. (Oct 16-Nov 10)

Skirmish near Bull's Gap, TN.

Federal expedition from City Point into Surry County, VA, as the Federals traveled every main and by road between the Blackwater and James Rivers, below Bacon Castle and City Point, (now called Hopewell) visiting every residence, capturing all the citizens, negroes and stock available. Even though there is corn in the fields and potatoes in the ground, this area is becoming barren of any livestock. (Oct 16-18 )

October 16 1859 - John Brown's raid on the Harpers Ferry Arsenal.

October 16

1780 – Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont are the last major raids of the American Revolutionary War.
1781 – George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia after the Siege of Yorktown.
1846 – William TG Morton first demonstrated ether anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Ether Dome.
1859 – John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

Births:
1754 – Morgan Lewis, Governor of New York (1804-07) (d. 1844)
1758 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)
1762 – Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina (1804–06) and U.S. Secretary of Navy (1809–12) (d. 1816)
1789 – William Burton, Governor of Delaware (1859–63) (d. 1866)
1795 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author (d. 1876)
1802 – Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
1806 – William Pitt Fessenden, U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1864-65) (d. 1869)
1815 – Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
1819 – Austin F. Pike, American politician from New Hampshire (d. 1886)

Deaths:

October 17
1861

Skirmishes at Fredericktown, MO. (Oct 17-18 )

1862

Skirmish at Mountain Home, AR.

Skirmish at Sugar Creek, AR.

Skirmishes about Camp Wild Cat, KY.

Skirmishes at Valley Woods and Rocky Hill, KY.

Skirmish at Lexington, MO.

Civilian resistance to the Union draft in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill Counties, PA, breaks out. (Oct 17-25)

Skirmish at Island No. 10, TN, with a Confederate attack.

Federal expedition to Thoroughfare Gap, VA, and skirmish. (Oct 17-18 )

1863

Action at Bogue Chitto Creek, MS.

Skirmish at Robinson's Mills, near Livingston, MS.

Skirmish near Satartia, MS.

Skirmish in Cedar County, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

Skirmish near Camden Court-House, NC, where the rear of a Union Cavalry detachment is fired upon by guerrillas concealed in the swamps. The Union men in the rear were not so lucky.

Affair at Accotink, VA.

Skirmish at Berryville, VA.

Skirmishes at Groveton, VA, Bristoe Campaign. (Oct 17-18 )

Skirmishes at Manassas Junction and Frying Pan Church, near Pohick Church, VA, as Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, withdraws from Bull Run toward the Rappahannock River, VA, the Bristoe Campaign.

Affair at Stuart's, near Chantilly, VA.

1864

Skirmish at Eddyville, Lyon County, KY, as the Federals move from Louisville.

Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, CSA, assumes the command of the Confederate Military Division of the West, east of the Mississippi River.

The surrender of, and Confederate occupation of, Carrollton, MO, by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Skirmish near Lexington, MO, as the Union forces begin to close in on the invading Confederates under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

The burning of Smithville, MO, by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Affair at Cedar Run Church, VA, the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, is ordered to resume command of his army corps, the Richmond, VA, Campaign, after recovering from battle wounds received at the Wilderness on May 7.

October 17

1777 – American troops defeat the British in the Battle of Saratoga.
1781 – General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionists at Yorktown, Virginia.

Births:
1711 – Jupiter Hammon, American writer (d. 1806)
1811 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch/American religious leader (d. 1876)

Deaths:

October 18
1861

Lloyd Tilghman, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish near Rockcastle Hills, KY.

Maj. Gen. Mansfield Lovell, CSA, supersedes Maj. Gen. David Twiggs, CSA, in the command of Dept. Number 1, consisting of Louisiana and Texas.

Union forces under Col. Joseph Bennett Plummer, 11th Missouri Infantry, advance from Cape Girardeau, MO, toward M. Jeff Thompson's Confederate Partisans which results in the following skirmish at Warrensburg, MO.

Federal gunboat reconnaissance down the Mississippi River, MO.

Skirmish at Warrensburg, MO.

Federal reconnaissance towards the Occoquan River, VA, by Brig. Gen. Israel B. Richardson, USA.

1862

Skirmish at Cross Hollow, AR.

Skirmish near Helena, AR.

Skirmish at Bloomfield, KY.

Skirmishes at Cross-Roads, Big Hill, Little Rockcastle River, and Mountain Side, KY.

Action at Lexington, KY, with Col. John Hunt Morgan's CSA troops routing the Federals, and Hunt entering the city.

Skirmish at Nelson's Cross-Roads, KY.

Skirmish at Rockcastle River, KY.

Skirmish at California House, MO, with Rebel guerrillas.

Skirmish near Uniontown, MO.

Affair at Kirk's Bluff, SC.

1863

William Price Sanders, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish at Carrion Crow Bayou, LA, with Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, USA.

Skirmish on the Livingston road, near Clinton, MS.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, assumes the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, which consists of all Union troops between the Mississippi River and the Cumberland Mountains.

Skirmish at Carthage, MO, with Col. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA.

Affair near Annandale, VA, where Maj. John Singleton Mosby, CSA, and his Virginia Partisan Rangers capture over 100 horses and mules, several wagons loaded with valuable stores, and between 75 and 100 prisoners, arms, equipment, etc, without sustaining any losses.

Skirmish at Bristoe Station, VA, as Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, withdraws to around Orange Coury-House.

The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia is established on the line of the Rappahannock River, VA, under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA.

The Confederate attack, under Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden, CSA, commanding the Valley District, on Charleston, WV, and skirmishes on the road to Berryville, VA, as Imboden surrounds Charlestown and captures the entire Union force there of 250 men, mostly the 9th Maryland.

1864

Maj. Gen. David Bell Birney, USA, dies at his home in Philadelphia, PA, from camp fever (malaria) contracted in the summer of 1864 during Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign through Virginia.

Skirmish near Huntsville, AL, as Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood, CSA, moves his Army of Tennessee towards Glasden, AL, away from Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's, USA, railroad line on the Chattanooga to Atlanta Railroad.

Skirmish near Summerville, GA.

Skirmish near Milton, FL, as the Confederates attack the US steamer, Planter, which is busy gathering logs in Blackwater Bay, at Battledonge. Later the Planter enters Escambia Bay and carries away 15,000 new brick and a lot of doors and window sashes.

Skirmish in Barry County, MO.

Skirmish at Clinch Mountain, TN.

Confederate raids on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, TN, as the Rebels burn nearly all the Negro and other dwellings along the railroad for two miles.

October 18

1648 – Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1767 – Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.
1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.

Births:
1595 – Edward Winslow, Plymouth Colony founder (d. 1655)
1679 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem Witch Trials (d. 1716)

Deaths:

October 19
1861

Action at the Big Hurricane Creek, MO.

Operations in the Kanawha and the New River Region, WV, with Brig. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, USA, and Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, CSA. (Oct 19-Nov 16)

Skirmishes on the New River, WV. (Oct 19-21)

1862

Skirmish at Bardstown, KY.

The Confederate Army of Tennessee, under Gen. Braxton Bragg, CSA, retire through Cumberland Gap, KY, taking with it large amounts of confiscated supplies from Kentucky. (Oct 19-24)

Reconnaissance on Madison Road, KY.

Skirmish at Pitman's Cross-Roads, KY.

Skirmish at Wild Cat, KY.

Skirmish at Bonnet Carre, Saint John Baptist Parrish, LA.

Skirmish between Catlett's Station and Warrenton Junction VA.

1863

Lucius Fairchild, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish at Grand Coteau, LA, with Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, USA.

Skirmish at Smith's Bridge, MS.

Skirmish at Honey Creek, MO, with bushwackers.

Affair at Murrell's Inlet, (Myrtle Beach), SC, as the Confederates capture 11 Federals of a landing party arriving on barges who set out to recover the cargo aboard the blockade runner, the Rover, which ran aground here. The Confederates got the cargo as well as some prisoners.

Skirmish at Spurgeon's Mill, TN.

Skirmish at Zollicoffer, TN.

The action at Buckland Mills, VA, or the Buckland Races, where Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart, CSA, routed Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick's, USA, Cavalry forces, during the Bristoe Campaign.

Skirmishes at Gainesville, New Baltimore, Catlett's Station, and Hay Market, VA, the Bristoe Campaign.

1864

The following are appointed Union Brigadier Generals:
Alfred Gibbs, USA
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, USA
Charles Russell Lowell, USA
William Henry Powell, USA

Skirmish in Crawford County, AR, with guerrillas attacking local militia men, with casualties.

Federal reconnaissance from Little Rock to Princeton, AR, with skirmish (Oct 23) at Hurricane Creek. (Oct 19-23)

Skirmish at Ruff's Station, GA.

Skirmishes near Turner's and Howell's Ferries, GA.

Action at Lexington, MO, with Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Skirmish near Montevallo, MO.

Lieut. Bennett H. Young, CSA, and his band of about 25 Confederates cross the Canadian border about 15 miles and move on St. Albans, Vermont, where they rob 3 banks of over $200,000 before a dozen of the raiders flee back across the border and are captured but later released by the Canadian officials. Similar to the English authorities, many foreign officials, though not officially acknowledging the Confederate States of America, will go out of their way to assist them, unofficially.

The Battle of Cedar Creek, (or Bell Grove), VA, where Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early and his subordinates, Maj. Gens. John Brown Gordon and Joseph Brevard Keshaw, CSA, attack and overwhelm the Union forces and where Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, USA, regroups the disorganized, beaten back and retreating Union army of the 6th, 8th, and 19th US Army Corps, and repels the Confederate onslaught and effectively terminates the last major Confederate threat in the Shenandoah Valley, VA. Total casualties approximate 8,575. The Confederates will continue to annoy the Federals but will never be able to effectively stage another major offensive in the Shenandoah Valley.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur, CSA, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek, VA, shot through both of his lungs, he was captured and died the next morning.

Brig. Gen. Daniel Davidson Bidwell, USA, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek, VA, while leading his men against the Confederates.

Brig. Gen. Charles Russell Lowell, USA, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Breek, VA, while at the head of his brigade, receiving his deathwound during the Union counter attack against Lieut. Gen. Jubal Anderson Early's, CSA.

October 19

1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.
1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

Births:
1720 – John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)
1810 – Cassius Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903)
1850 – Annie Smith Peck, American mountaineer (d. 1935)

Deaths:
1790 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)
1856 – William Sprague III, American politician from Rhode Island (b. 1799)

October 20
1861

Union forces under Col. William Passmore Carlin, 38th Illinois Infantry, advance from Pilot Knob, MO.

Brig. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, USA, relinquishes the command of the Dept. of the Pacific to Col. George Wright, 9th US Infantry.

Federal reconnaissance to Hunter's Mill and Thorton Station, VA, near Leesburg, VA, by Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, USA.

1862

Robert Hall Chilton, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish near Helena, AR.

President Lincoln orders Maj. Gen. John McClernand, USA, to organize troops from Indiana, Illinois and Iowa for an independent expedition against Vicksburg, MS, which will in turn upset Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA's area command.

Skirmish at Pitman's Cross-Roads, near Bardstown, KY.

Skirmish near Wild Cat, KY.

Skirmish near Marshfield, MO.

Skirmish at Hermitage Ford, TN.

Skirmish on the Gallatin Pike, near Nashville, TN, with Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA, repelled.

Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, USA, assumes the command of the 12th US Army Corps, the Army of the Potomac.

Skirmish at Hedgesville, WV.

1863

Federal reconnaissance from Bridgeport toward Trenton, AL, with skirmish and capture of a few Confederates and their horses.

Maj. Gen. Cadwallader C. Washburn, USA, assumes the command of the 13th US Army Corps, MS.

Skirmish at Treadwell's Plantation, MS.

Skirmish at Warm Springs, NC, as a Rebel attack on the pickets here is repulsed; similar to last night although a picket of 10 Rebel men were captured then.

Operations on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, TN. (Oct 20-29)

Skirmishes at Barton's and Dickson's Stations and Cane Creek, AL, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Action at Philadelphia, TN, as Confederate Cavalry forces under Col. George G. Dibrell attack a wagon train belonging to Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnsides, USA, commanding the Dept. of the Ohio, inflicting 479 casualties on the Federals in the process.

Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, USA, supersedes Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, USA, in the command of the Army of the Cumberland, TN.

The Confederate cavalry, under Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart, CS A, retires across the Rappahannock River, VA, the Bristoe Campaign.

1864

Maj. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur, CSA, dies from wounds received the day before at the Battle of Cedar Creek, VA, as another valuable Confederate officer is lost forever, as the "Cause" is likewise becoming.

George Washington Custis Lee, CSA, is appointed Maj. Gen.

Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish at Blue Pond, AL.

Skirmish at Little River, AL.

Skirmish in Benton County, AR, with Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Skirmish near Waterloo, LA.

Skirmish at Dover, MO, as Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA, is becoming alarmed at the Union Calvary forces under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, the Army of the Border under Maj. Gen. Samuel Ryan Curtis, as well as Brig. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith, USA, are surrounding and hemming him in.

The Indian attack on the settlements in the Platte Valley, near Alkali Station, the Nebraska Territory.

Skirmish near Memphis, TN.

Skirmish at Fisher's Hill, VA, as Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early, licks his wounds, and retreats southward with the last remnants of Confederate opposition in the Shenandoah Valley.

President Abraham Lincoln officially sets the last Thursday in November to be forever celebrated as "Thanksgiving."

October 20

1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
1818 – The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.

Births:
1711 – Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (d. 1795)
1759 – Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (d. 1815)
1859 – John Dewey, American philosopher (d. 1952)

Deaths:

October 21
1861

The following are appointed Confederate Brigadier Generals:
Philip St. George Cocke CSA
Nathan George Evans, CSA
Robert Emmett Rodes, CSA
Richard Taylor, CSA
James Heyward Trapier, CSA
Louis Trezevant Wigfall, CSA
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, CSA

Brig. Gen. John Breckinridge Grayson, CSA, dies at Tallahassee, FL, from lung disease, three days after his 55th birthday.

Action at Rockcastle Hills, or Camp Wildcat, KY, with Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer, CSA, attacking Brig. Gen. A. Schoepf, USA.

The Federal expedition under the command of Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, USA, sails from Annapolis, MD, for the South Carolina coast.

Engagement at Fredericktown, MO, with Col. J. B. Plummer, USA.

Operations on the Potomac, near Leesburg, VA, including:
a) Engagement (or Battle of) Ball's Bluff, or of Leesburg, VA, and the resulting skirmish on the Leesburg road (Oct 21). The Union troops are ferried across the Potomac here and downstream at Edwards Ferry, and march up the steep banks; they are pressed back, with many killed as they leap down the steep banks while many others drown as they attempt to recross the Potomac. The Confederates under Brig. Gen. Nathan George "Shanks" Evans, CSA, rout the Federals, under Brig. Gen. Charles Pomeroy Stone, USA. Although taking direct orders from Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, Gen. Stone's military career is destroyed with the untimely death of Maj. Gen. Edward Dickinson Baker, USA, who is also a Senator from Oregon, and a close personal friend of President Lincoln. His death will eventually cause the Congress to create the "Committee of the Conduct of the War," which will politically be used to attack various Union officers. This committee will have the political power to derail or sidetrack any Federal officer's career who was not careful.
b) Action near Edwards Ferry (Oct 22).

Skirmish at Young's Mill, near Newport News, VA, with Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder, CSA.

1862

Skirmish near Simmons' Ranch, near Hydesville, CA.

Federal expedition from Crab Orchard to Big Hill and Richmond, KY.

Col. Joseph Wheeler's, CSA, command arrives at, and seizes Loundon, KY.

Skirmish at Pitman's Cross-Roads, KY.

Federal scout to Colliersville, Shelby Depot, Hickory, and Galloway Switch, TN, and skirmishes. (Oct 21-24)

Skirmish at Woodville, TN, with Rebel Partisan Rangers.

Federal reconnaissance from Loudoun Heights to Lovettsville, VA, and skirmishes en route with the capture of Rebel foragers.

1863

Action at Cherokee Station, AL, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Skirmishes at Opelousas and Barre's Landing, LA, with the occupation of Opelousas, LA, by Maj. Gen. William Buel Franklin, USA.

Affair in Greenton Valley, near Hopewell, MO, with bushwackers.

Skirmish at Sulphur Springs, TN.

Federal scout from Charleston to Boone County Court-House, WV, and around Turtle Creek, Six-Mile Creek, and the Spruce Fork of Coal River, finding no enemy except a few stragglers who are make prisoners. (Oct 21-22)

1864

George Crook, U.S.A., is appointed Maj. Gen.

William Badger Tibbits, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish at Leesburg, AL.

Skirmish at Bryant's Plantation, FL.

Skirmish at Harrodsburg, KY.

Action at the Little Blue, MO, where Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA, forces Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, USA, to retreat to Bush Creek, near Westport, MO. Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA, continues to exert muscle.

Skirmish with Indians, at Alkali Station, the Nebraska Territory.

Skirmish in Clinch Valley, near Sneedville, TN.

The Confederate raids on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, TN, by forces under Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood, CSA.

October 21

1774 – First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1797 – In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.

Births:

Deaths:
1775 – Peyton Randolph, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)

October 22
1861

Joseph Bennett Plummer, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Affairs around Budd's Ferry, MD, against Confederate shore batteries located near Shippoing Point between the Chopawamsic and Quantico Creeks, MD.

Skirmish at Buffalo Springs, MO.

Brig. Gen. James Hey ward Trapier, CSA, is assigned to the command of the Confederate Dept. of Middle and East Florida.

The Confederate Department (Army) of Northern Virginia is constituted, with the following command appointments:
a) Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, overall command.
b) Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Potomac District.
c) Maj. Gen. Theophilus Hunter Holmes, Aquia District.
d) Maj. Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Valley District.

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Kelley, USA, is assigned to the command of the Federal Dept. of Harper's Ferry, WV, and Cumberland, MD.

After his visit to Washington, DC, William Blount Carter enters East Tennessee to organize parties to destroy the railway bridges there.

1862

Skirmish near Helena, AR.

Skirmish at Huntsville, AR.

Action at Old Fort Wayne, or Beattie's Prairier, near Maysville, with fighting by the Pro-South Cherokee and Creek Indians.

The pursuit of the Confederate forces from Perryville to London, KY, is discontinued.

Skirmish near Van Buren, MO.

Skirmish at Coosawhatchie, SC, and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, or Yemassee, SC. (Oct 22-23)

Federal expedition from Fort Donelson to Waverly, TN, with skirmishes. (Oct 22-25)

Skirmish near Snickersville, VA.

1863

Skirmish near Volney, Logan County, Ky, with a complete rout of the Confederates. Unfortunately, a local citizen was shot dead when he refused to allow the Federals to confiscate his horse.

Destruction of the steamer, Mist, near Ship Island, on the Mississippi River, by a band of Confederates.

Skirmish at Brownsville, MS.

Mutiny at Bloomfield, MO, by the subordinate officers of the 6th Missouri Cavalry, against their Colonel. A Court of Inquiry is held and all 5 subordinate officers are dismissed from the Union Army.

Federal scout from Germantown, TN, to Chulahoma, MS, with little activity. It's a good thing as the men's clothing and most of their ammunition was thoroughly soaked with the heavy rain downpour. (Oct 22-24)

Skirmish at New Madrid Bend, TN.

Affair near Annandale, some 3 miles from Fairfax Court-House and near the Little River turnpike, VA, as the Federals run into a squad of Maj. John S. Mosby's Virginia Partisan Rangers who were looking for government horses and sutlers' wagons. Mosby loses some good men today.

Skirmishes at the Rappahannock Bridge, and near Bealeton, or Beverly Ford, VA, effectively ending the Bristoe, VA Campaign.

1864

The Confederate guerrilla attack on the Union transport, on the White River, near Saint Charles, AR, where the Rebel rifle shots kill 3 and wound 14 men of the 53rd US Colored Infantry.

Federal expedition from Brashear City to Belle River, LA. (Oct 22-24)

Action at the Big Blue (Byram's Ford, etc.), MO, where Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA, forces Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, USA, to retreat to Bush Creek, near Westport, MO.

Action at, and Federal evacuation of, Independence, MO, because of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Action at State Line, MO, with Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

Skirmish with Indians near Midway Station, the Nebraska Territory.

October 22

1746 – The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) receives its charter.
1784 – Russia founds a colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
1790 – Warriors of the Miami tribe under Chief Little Turtle defeat United States troops under General Josiah Harmar at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Northwest Indian War.
1836 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

Births:
1734 – Daniel Boone, American pioneer and hunter (d. 1820)
1809 – Volney E. Howard, American politician (d. 1889)
1821 – Collis Potter Huntington, American railroad executive (d. 1900)
1844 – Louis Riel, Canadian Metis Political Leader (d. 1885)

Deaths:
1755 – Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (b. 1694)

October 23
1861

Samuel Gibbs French, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

Skirmish near Hodgensville, KY.

Skirmish at West Liberty, KY, with Brig. Gen. William Nelson, USA.

Lieut. Col. Albemarle Cady, 7th US Infantry, relieves Col. Benjamin L. Beall, 1st US Cavalry, in the command of the District of Oregon.

Federal reconnaissance in the Kanawha Valley, WV. (Oct 23-27)

Skirmish at Gauley, WV.

1862

Federal destruction of the Confederate Goose Creek Salt-Works, near Manchester, KY. (Oct 23-24)

Skirmish at Clarkston, MO.

Skirmishes near Waverly and Richland Creek, TN.

1863

Skirmish at Warm Springs, NC.

Skirmish at Sweet Water, TN.

Lieut. Gen. Leonidas Polk, CSA, is transferred from the Army of Tennessee to the Army of the Mississippi, partially due to the inability of Polk to get along with Gen. Braxton Bragg, a long time friend and supporter of President Jefferson Davis, while vice Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardefe, CSA, is reassigned to the Army of the Tennessee, as President Davis continues his tour of the deep South.

Skirmish at Fayetteville, VA.

Skirmish near Rappahannock Station, VA.

1864

Skirmish at King's Hill, AL.

The engagement at the Big Blue, MO, with Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA.

The Engagement at Westport, MO, near present day Kansas City, MO, as Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby, CSA, attacks; Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, USA, and his cavalry counterattack; Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke, CSA, and the rest of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate force see the Union troops reverse yesterday's defeat; Sterling withdraws southward which effectively ends the last Confederate threat in Missouri.

The destruction of the blockade-runner, Flamingo, at Charleston, SC.

Skirmish at Dry Run, VA, the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

October 23

1850 – The first National Women's Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

Births:
1762 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)
1790 – Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman (d. 1860)
1805 – John Russell Bartlett, American linguist (d. 1886)
1835 – Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, 23rd Vice President (d. 1914)

Deaths:

October 24
1861

Attack on Camp Joe Underwood, KY, by Col. R. D. Allison, CSA, 14th TN Infantry.

Maj. Gen. David Hunter, USA, is ordered to supersede Maj. Gen. John Charles Fremont, USA, in the command of the Western Dept., MO.

President Lincoln attends the funeral for Maj. Gen. Edward D. Baker, killed October 21, 1861, at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, or Leesburg, VA.

1862

Skirmish near Fayetteville, AR.

Operations in the La Fourche District, LA. (Oct 24-Nov 11)

Federal expedition from Independence to Greenton, Chapel Hill, Hopewell, etc., MO. (Oct 24-26)

The CSS Alabama continues to prowl the Atlantic, this time burning the whaling vessel, Lafayette, off Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Affair on Saint Helena Island, SC.

The Dept. of the Cumberland, TN, is re-established, and Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, USA, is assigned to command, Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, USA, is relieved of command after failing to prevent Gen. Braxton Bragg from leaving Kentucky.

The 13th US Army Corps is constituted, TN.

Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, CSA, is temporarily in command of Confederate Dept. No. 2, TN.

Skirmish near White Oak Springs, TN.

Skirmishes at Manassas Junction and near Bristoe Station, VA.

1863

Skirmishes at Tuscumbia, AL. (Oct 24-25)

Skirmish at the Buffalo Mountains, AR, with Col. Shelby, CSA.

Federal expedition from Goodrich's Landing, LA, to Griffin's Landing, Washington County, and Catfish Point, MS, aboard the steamers, Adams, Baltic, Fairchild, and Homer, capturing a Rebel agent with $12,000 in Confederate money who was purchasing livestock to feed the Confederates soldiers. Many fine fat hogs, etc, were sent to the ram Monarch, lying off Greenville. The Federals also captured the rebel mail-carrier, cotton, etc. The Confederates burn the steamer, Allen Collier, that had landed opposite Laconia, AR. The Federals burn the plantation and home of a local well-known guerrilla, setting the family out in the lawn, as many similar instances take place. (Oct 24-Nov 24)

Skirmish at Washington, LA, with Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, US A.

Skirmish near Harrisonville, MO, with Col. Joseph Shelby, CSA.

Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA, assumes the command of the Army of the Tennessee, with vice Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi, and arriving at Chattanooga, TN, to take charge and orders a supply line, "the cracker line," to be established for the beleaguered Union troops there.

Skirmish at Bealeton, VA.

Skirmish at Liberty, VA.

Brig. Gen. James Jay Archer, CSA, dies from deteriorating health developed as a Federal prisoner of war after being captured Jul 3, 1863 with most of his brigade of Heth's division at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa. Exchanged, he died in his nation's capital, of Richmond, VA.

Federal scout from Pine Bluff toward Mount Elba, AR. (Oct 24-27)

Skirmish near Magnolia, FL, where Union Cavalry battle the Confederate forces stationed near Waldo, with casualties.

Skirmish near South River, GA.

Federal operations in Issaquena and Washington Counties, MS, and skirmish (Oct 25) at Steele's Bayou, as the Yankees capture cotton, horses, mules, sheep, beef-cattle, in addition to prominent rebels throughout this here country. (Oct 24-31)

Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, CSA, concludes his Missouri expedition, moving his long train of captured Federal supplies along the Kansas state line.