Maj. General George B. McClellan, who later became the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878-1881 (Photo by Matthew Brady/Library of Congress)
September 1864
By Phil Kohn
Phil Kohn can be reached at USCW160@yahoo.com
On September 1, 1864, Confederate forces under Gen. John Bell Hood, down to about 35,000 men, pull out of Atlanta and head for Palmetto, Georgia, some 27 miles to the southwest. Unable to carry off munitions and supplies, the Southerners put them to the torch, setting off explosions and fires around the city. In southwestern Virginia, Confederate raider Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan departs Abingdon for Greeneville, Tennessee, with several hundred men to conduct raids in the eastern part of that state.
Union troops under Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum enter Atlanta on September 2. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman informs President Lincoln: “So Atlanta is ours and fairly won.” The same day, 4,000 Confederates under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, intent on recapturing Missouri, enter that state by crossing the Arkansas River at Dardanelle, Arkansas. In Richmond, Virginia, concerned about manpower shortages in the Confederate Army, Gen. Robert E. Lee suggests to President Davis that the government permit black slaves to replace white laborers working for the army to free up the whites for combat service. Lee also says that tighter regulations governing exemptions from military service are needed to offset constant manpower losses to battle, disease and desertion.
In Virginia, desperately needing help against Grant’s siege at Petersburg, Gen. Lee on September 3 requisitions the return of men sent previously to Lt. Gen. Early, who is now at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley. Early, significantly weakening his force, orders Lt. Gen. Richard Anderson’s corps to return to Lee. On its way to reach Lee, Anderson’s force runs into a corps of Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s Union troops at Berryville. After hard fighting, Anderson’s soldiers must break off and head back to Early at Winchester.
On September 4, a Federal raiding party ambushes Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s force at Greeneville, Tennessee. Morgan is killed, along with about 100 of his men; 75 are captured. Around Atlanta, Maj. Gen. Sherman begins dispersing his troops to protect his supply lines, with some being sent to Rome, Georgia, and others to Chattanooga, Tennessee. He orders Maj. Gen. George Thomas to take command of the troops at Chattanooga.
In Louisiana — according to a plan outlined by President Lincoln for readmission of a seceded state to the Union — citizens who have taken the loyalty oath renouncing secession on September 5 vote on and ratify a new state constitution — that outlaws slavery in the state.
Having difficulty feeding his troops in Atlanta, Sherman — deaf to the arguments and appeals of the city fathers and the outrage of Gen. Hood — on September 7 orders all civilians to evacuate the city. Sherman tells those seeking a remand of his order: “You might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war. War is war and not popularity seeking.”
At his home in New Jersey, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan on September 8 accepts his nomination as a candidate for president by the Democratic Party. Still in the army, he has been awaiting orders since his removal as commander of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln on November 9, 1862.
On September 9, Federal troops clash with Confederates near Warrensburg, Missouri, located about 61 miles southeast of Kansas City.
From Virginia, on September 10, U.S. Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant sends a telegram to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, in Georgia, urging him to begin a new drive against the enemy.
During a 10-day truce arranged between Sherman and Hood that begins September 11 and runs through September 20, some 446 families — numbering about 1,600 people — unwillingly abandon their homes in Atlanta, leaving behind almost all their possessions. Though some head north, most go south toward Lovejoy, Georgia, a seeming safe haven (at least temporarily) some 24 miles to the southeast of Atlanta.
The Confederates of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price on September 13 are joined by 8,000 (poorly armed) cavalry troops under Brig. Gen. Jo Shelby. Renaming the combined force the Army of Missouri, Price moves his 12,000 men northeastward toward St. Louis, Missouri. In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the forces of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early and Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan continue to skirmish. Today there are engagements at Bunker Hill and at two fords at Opequon Creek.
Having set out once, on September 3, to re-join Gen. Lee’s troops around Petersburg, but having been turned back in a fight with Sheridan’s men, Lt. Gen. Richard Anderson on September 14 again departs from Lt. Gen. Early’s force at Winchester. The recall of Anderson’s corps by Lee substantially weakens Early’s strength.
On September 15, Brig. Gen. Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokee cavalry, along with a brigade of Texas cavalry under Brig. Gen. Richard Gano, overwhelm a detachment of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry at Prairie Springs, in the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory.
Dissatisfied with the pace of Union operations in the Shenandoah Valley, Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant on September 16 meets with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan near Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. After the meeting, not surprisingly, Sheridan soon starts moving his men southward up the Valley. Elsewhere in Virginia, Confederate Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton, after a skirmish south of the James River, returns to Petersburg with 300 Union prisoners and 2,400 head of captured Federal cattle. On the same day, farther west, Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest begins moving 4,500 cavalrymen out of Tupelo, Mississippi, for a raid on northern Alabama and middle Tennessee.
John C. Frémont, who had been nominated in the spring as a candidate for president by a convention of Radical Republicans, announces on September 17 that he is withdrawing his hat from the ring. Although he remains adamant that Lincoln’s administration is a failure, Frémont worries that a Democratic victory in November will result in either a recognition of the Confederacy or a re-establishment of slavery, or both. Frémont pledges to support the re-election of Lincoln (who has been nominated by the National Union Party) as president.
On September 19, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan’s 40,000-man Union force attacks and defeats Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s 12,000 widely scattered Confederates at Opequon Creek, Virginia, north and east of Winchester. Casualties are heavy on both sides: Union, 4,018; Confederate, 3,921, plus 2,000 taken prisoner. In the Indian Territory, at Cabin Creek, Brig. Gen. Stand Watie’s Confederate Cherokee cavalry captures a U.S. wagon train and its 600-soldier guard. His spoils consist of 202 wagons, five ambulances, 40 horses, 1,250 mules and military supplies worth a total of $1.5 million dollars.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis departs Richmond on September 20 and heads for Georgia to meet with Gen. Hood. In the Shenandoah Valley, Union cavalry pursues Lt. Gen. Early’s fleeing Confederates, vanquished at Opequon Creek. Rear-guard actions take place at Middletown, Strasburg and Cedarville. As Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s troops move toward St. Louis, Missouri, fighting takes place at Keytesville and on the Little Black River. In Alabama, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s 4,500 cavalrymen arrive at Tuscumbia, in the northwest corner of the state.
Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederates dig in at Fisher’s Hill, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on September 21. The Union troops of Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan fortify their own positions to the north of Fisher’s Hill.
The forces of Sheridan and Early clash again, on September 22, at Fisher’s Hill, south of Winchester. Early is defeated, forcing him to move south to Staunton. Union casualties: 528; Confederate losses: 1,235 and 12 guns. In Missouri, Union troops skirmish with Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s Army of Missouri at Patterson and at Sikeston, both around 130 or so miles south of St. Louis.
Maj. Gen. Forrest’s Confederates capture 1,300 Union troops and much equipment at Athens, Alabama, on September 23. The raid is part of a continuing effort to interfere with Maj. Gen. Sherman’s supply lines to Atlanta.
On September 24, in the Shenandoah Valley, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan’s men begin burning barns, crops and other private property in obedience to orders from Lt. Gen. Grant that the Valley “cease to be a granary and sanctuary.” In his written communication with Sheridan, Grant continues: “If the war is to last another year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste.”
Confederate President Davis meets with Gen. John Bell Hood at Palmetto, Georgia, on September 25 to confer about the army’s situation and, hopefully, to buoy the morale of the troops. Hood proposes striking Sherman’s supply lines north of Atlanta. Davis concurs. Hood also requests that Lt. Gen. William Hardee be removed from his army, as the two have long had their difficulties. In Missouri, Sterling Price’s Confederates reach Fredericktown, about 90 miles south of St. Louis.
Having moved from Alabama into Tennessee, Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his troops assault a Federal garrison at Pulaski on September 26.
On September 27, the vicious Confederate guerrilla William “Bloody Bill” Anderson (formerly a lieutenant to the notorious raider William C. Quantrill) and 80 men, including brothers (and later outlaws) Jesse and Frank James, ride into Centralia, Missouri, to cut the Northern Missouri Railroad there. Some of the men are wearing stolen Federal uniforms. Shortly after Anderson’s men arrive, a train pulls into town carrying 125 passengers, including 24 Union soldiers on leave after the Battle of Atlanta. Anderson’s men swarm the train, separating the passengers. They rob the civilians, then kill 23 of the soldiers, sparing one sergeant, who is taken prisoner. After burning the train and the depot, Anderson’s men depart. A couple of hours later, 155 members of the 39th Missouri Infantry (Mounted) arrive and set out in pursuit. About 2.5 miles southeast of Centralia, they are ambushed by the guerrillas, and 123 of the Federals are killed. Farther south, Sterling Price’s Confederates seize Fort Davidson, Missouri. Price continues moving his men northward towards St. Louis, some 85 miles away, garrisoned by 8,000 Federal troops under the command of Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans. The city’s citizens begin to worry.
Still on his western trip, President Davis, at West Point, Georgia, on September 28 decides that if he is to continue supporting Gen. Hood, he must remove Lt. Gen. Hardee from his command. Accordingly, he wires Hood to relieve Hardee so that Hardee can move to a new responsibility as commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
On September 29, Maj. Gen. George Thomas arrives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to take command of Union troops in that vicinity. Outside of Richmond, Virginia, Union troops attack and occupy Fort Harrison, one of the strongpoints of the Confederate lines forming the outer defenses of the Confederate capital. South of Petersburg, some 16,000 Federal troops try to extend the Union lines westward to capture the Boydton Plank Road and cut the Southside Railroad, both leading into the city.
The next day, September 30, some 10,000 Confederates under the command of Lt. Gen. Richard Anderson (late of Jubal Early’s command) attack Fort Harrison but are unable to take the fort back from the Federals. The Southerners establish a new defensive line between the fort and the city of Richmond. In the action, Federal losses are 2,685 killed, wounded and missing. Confederate casualties number 2,800, including 300 taken prisoner. Southwest of Petersburg, at Peebles’ Farm, a vigorous counterattack led by Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill pushes back advancing Federals.
