Rear Admiral David G. Farragut and Captain Drayton on the deck of the US Navy warship, USS Hartford. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

August 1864

By Phil Kohn
Phil Kohn can be reached at USCW160@yahoo.com

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on August 1, 1864, orders Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan, the new cavalry commander of the Army of the Potomac, to clear Confederates, particularly the troops of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

U.S. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, near Atlanta, Georgia, and frustrated at the twice-failed efforts to rid Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest (“that devil, Forrest”) as a threat to his supply lines, on August 3 orders Maj. Gen. A. J. Smith to take another crack at the Southern cavalryman. (The first failed attempt, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis occurred on June 10, 1864, at Brice’s Crossroads, Mississippi. The second — A. J. Smith’s first try — happened at Tupelo, Mississippi, on July 16.) Smith leads 18,000 troops eastward out of Memphis, Tennessee, for a raid on Oxford, Mississippi, where Forrest and his 5,000 men are located. Unbeknownst to Smith, Forrest on the same day leads his men westward out of Oxford and then north on a raid against Memphis, hoping to capture three U.S. Army generals known to be posted in the city. Farther south, Union troops land on Dauphin Island, Alabama, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, and attack Ft. Gaines, one of two forts — the other is Fort Morgan — guarding the waterway.

North Carolina holds its election for governor on August 4, and the result resolves a political crisis for the Confederacy. Incumbent Zebulon Vance has been opposed by journalist and attorney William W. Holden, who campaigned on a promise to secede from the Confederacy and make a separate peace with the United States. Though Holden in the early going seemed to be favored to win, Vance bounces back on election day, garnering 57,875 votes to Holden’s 14,452.

USS Hartford

Early on August 5, a fleet of 18 vessels — twelve wooden ships, four ironclads and two gunboats — led by U.S. Rear Adm. David Farragut enters Mobile Bay under fire from Forts Gaines and Morgan and a small Confederate fleet, comprising three gunboats and one ironclad. USS Tecumseh, an ironclad monitor in the lead, hits a “torpedo” (as floating mines were then called) and sinks within minutes, with 94 lives lost. Noticing that his ships have slowed as a result, Farragut — who has lashed himself to the rigging of his flagship, USS Hartford, a sloop-of-war steamer — is said to shout “Damn the torpedoes! . . . Full speed ahead!” Whether Farragut’s words are apocryphal or not, the Union vessels once again speed up, and within five hours, the U.S. Navy controls Mobile Bay. The Federal force suffers 145 killed, 170 wounded and 4 captured. The Confederates lose 12 killed, 20 wounded and 270 captured. The scene is now set for land operations against the city of Mobile. In Washington, D.C., Sen. Benjamin Wade (R-Ohio) and Rep. Henry Davis (R-Md.) — irate over President Lincoln’s pocket veto of their bill for a punitive reconstruction of the postwar South — issue a statement declaring “their right and duty to check the encroachment of the Executive on the authority of Congress.” At issue: Will the President control Reconstruction, or will Congress? In the Atlantic off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, the Confederate cruiser CSS Tallahassee begins attacking and capturing U.S.-flagged vessels. Tallahassee, a twin-screwed steamer, is captained by Cdr. John Taylor Wood, CSN, a grandson of former U.S. President Zachary Taylor and a nephew of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

On August 7, after four days under attack, Fort Gaines, on Mobile Bay, surrenders to 5,500 Federal troops; 900 Confederates are taken prisoner. In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, part of Lt. Gen. Early’s cavalry is attacked in force along the south bank of the Potomac River at Moorefield, West Virginia. Union losses are light: 11 killed, 18 wounded and 13 captured. Confederate casualties are also fairly low, with 13 killed and 60 wounded. However, the Federals capture 415 Confederates, including 38 officers.

Having taken Fort Gaines, in Mobile Bay, Union troops on August 9 move to and besiege Fort Morgan. In Virginia, Confederate Col. John S. Mosby and his raiders begin stepping up operations in the Federal-held counties of Virginia west of Washington, D.C.

At Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate Gen. John B. Hood dispatches most of the cavalry of his Army of Tennessee northward on August 10 on a mission to raid and destroy the rail lines supplying Union Maj. Gen. Sherman and his troops. The Southern cavalry, led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, will hit several locations on the raid and will be gone until September 10. In fact, the move turns out to be a strategic blunder: Sherman already has all the supplies he requires for the time being, and now Hood’s Army of Tennessee is minus its cavalry.

By August 12, the raider CSS Tallahassee has wreaked havoc in the waters off New York and New Jersey. The Confederate cruiser, in one week, has captured six U.S.-flagged commercial vessels off New York City, and seven more off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. In the Shenandoah Valley, the Union cavalry of Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan moves towards Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, whose force is entrenched along Cedar Creek, south of Winchester. There is a small skirmish. In Washington, D.C., some politicians begin warning Abraham Lincoln that he may be in danger of losing the presidential elections, coming up in November.

At Deep Bottom, Virginia, and other locations east of Richmond, Federal troops on August 13 attack Confederate positions, seeking to draw Southern manpower from Petersburg. After three days, and 3,000 casualties, the Union offensive is called off.

On Aug. 15, Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan officially takes command of 48,000 Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He dubs them the Army of the Shenandoah and moves them near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. At sea, the Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee moves into more-northern waters and takes six more Federal commercial ships off New England. In the war’s Western Theater, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor — the son of former U.S. President Zachary Taylor and the brother-in-law of Confederate President Jefferson Davis — is assigned to take command of the Confederate Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana.

The hunting by the Confederate cruiser CSS Tallahassee in the waters off New England remains good on October 16. The raider captures five more U.S.-flagged commercial vessels.

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, on August 18, spurns a second request from the Confederacy to resume exchanging prisoners of war. The South is having trouble housing and feeding its Union captives — and is running low on soldiers. Even though his decision will doom many Federal prisoners, Grant believes exchanges will prolong the war. In Virginia, Union troops attack the Weldon Railroad, one of five lines into Petersburg. On Aug. 25, that supply route is severed. Around Petersburg itself, Lt. Gen. Grant orders his lines extended westward. In Georgia, Maj. Gen. Sherman — hoping to displace the Confederates from Atlanta — dispatches two brigades of troops under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick to raid Gen. Hood’s lines of communication and supply south of the city. Strong Confederate resistance will foil the plan and Kilpatrick’s force returns five days later with little success to show for its efforts.

On August 21, Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and 2,000 of his men enter Memphis and occupy the city for part of the day. While his raiders don’t capture the three Union generals that are their intended targets, it is a close call for Maj. Gen. Cadwallader C. Washburn, the newly arrived Union district commander, who has to flee from his bedroom in his nightshirt to avoid being nabbed. An urgent message is sent to Maj. Gen. A. J. Smith, ordering him and his men to return quickly to Memphis. Smith complies and, once again, Forrest is left free to continue raiding Sherman’s supply lines. In Virginia, the troops of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early and Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan clash at Charles Town, West Virginia, the first of several skirmishes between the two.

In Alabama, after 14 days of siege by Union infantry and bombardment by Federal ironclads, Fort Morgan surrenders, on August 23. The Union has now closed Mobile Bay to Confederate blockade runners, leaving only the Atlantic port of Wilmington, North Carolina, open.

Outside of Petersburg, Virginia, on August 24, Union troops are wrecking large sections of the Weldon Railroad, one of the five rail lines that carries supplies to Petersburg.

On August 25, Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill leads a reinforced corps in a surprise attack against Federal troops destroying the Weldon Railroad at Reams’ Station, Virginia, south of Petersburg. The Union troops are routed and withdraw. Hill’s men return to the Petersburg defensive lines. Federal losses total 2,372, of which over 2,000 are captured or missing. Confederate losses number 720.

Continuing to press the Confederates still holding Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman on August 26 pulls two of his corps out of their trenches and sends them west of the city and then south towards Jonesboro, some 18 miles away, to choke off the Macon Railroad, one of the last supply lines into Atlanta and Gen. Hood’s force. The Confederate command misinterprets the move as a Federal retreat spurred by a lack of supplies.

On August 29, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price leads a Confederate force northward out of Princeton, Arkansas, in the southwest portion of the state, with the goal of recovering Missouri for the Confederacy. In Chicago, Illinois, the Democratic national convention meets. The keynote speech is given by Copperhead activist Clement Vallandigham.

Union troops on August 30 seize the Macon and Western Railroad, one of the last two rail lines into Atlanta. Still thinking that the Federals are retreating, Gen. Hood orders Maj. Gen. Hardee’s corps to attack Sherman’s troops at Jonesboro. Fierce fighting takes place.

On August 31, the attack ordered by Hood at Jonesboro is repulsed. Union casualties total 170; Confederate: 1,725. Maj. Gen. Sherman orders troops under Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum to enter Atlanta the next day. At Chicago, the Democratic national convention nominates former U.S. Army Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan as its candidate for president in the November elections. The party’s platform asserts “that immediate efforts be made of a cessation of hostilities” and assails Lincoln’s policies and actions. It claims that Lincoln has usurped “extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution.”