July 27 In Civil War History

Jim Klag

Ike the moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
May 12, 2019
Messages
3,690
Reaction score
2,296
OnThisDay.png
On this day in Civil War history

Compiled by Mitchell Werksman and Jim Klag

July 27, 1812 - Thomas Lanier Clingman, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Huntsville, North Carolina (d. 1897)

July 27, 1820 - John Franklin Farnsworth, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Eaton, Canada (d. 1897)

July 27, 1840 - Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Westchester County, New York (d. 1889)

July 27, 1861 - The Union forces under Maj. Isaac Lynde, USA, 7th US Infantry, from Fort Fillmore, surrender at San Augustine Springs, the New Mexico Territory, to Capt. John R. Baylor, CSA.

July 27, 1861 - Battle of Mathias Point, Virginia - Rebel forces repel a Federal landing.

July 27, 1861 - Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan, USA, assumes the command of the Division of the Potomac, VA, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln, to replace Maj. Gen. Irwin McDowell, USA, after his disastrous defeat at Bull Run, or Manassas, VA.

July 27, 1862 - John Buford, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.

July 27, 1862 - Federal expedition from Woodville to Guntersville, AL, and skirmishes:

at Guntersville (Jul 28)

at Law's Landing (Jul 29), and

at Old Deposit Ferry (Jul 29)

(Jul 27-30)

July 27, 1862 - Skirmish at Bayou Bernard, near Fort Gibson, the Indian Territory.

July 27, 1862 - Skirmish at Covington, LA.

July 27, 1862 - Skirmish at Madisonville, LA.

July 27, 1862 - Federal expedition from Rienzi to Ripley, MS. (Jul 27-29)

July 27, 1862 - Operations in Carroll, Ray, and Livingston Counties, MO. (Jul 27-Aug 4)

July 27, 1862 - Skirmish at Brown's Spring, MO.

July 27, 1862 - Affair near Toone's Station, or Lower Post Ferry, TN.

July 27, 1862 - Skirmish at Flat Top Mountain, WV.

July 27, 1863 - Confederate attack on the steamer, Paint Rock, near Bridgeport, AL.

July 27, 1863 - Skirmish near Rogersville, KY, with Col. John S. Scott, CSA.

July 27, 1863 - Skirmish at the mouth of Bayou Teche, LA.

July 27, 1863 - Affair near Cassville, MO.

July 27, 1864 - The siege of Petersburg is ongoing.

July 27, 1864 - Action at Massard Prairie, 7 miles from Fort Smith, AR, where the Confederates overpower the Yankees, capturing 82.

July 27, 1864 - Skirmish at Whiteside, Black Creek, FL.

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. Alexander McDowell McCooks's, USA, raid on the Atlanta, West Point, Macon and Western Railroads, with skirmishes:

near Campbellton (Jul 28)

near Lovejoy's Station (Jul 29)

at Clear Creek (Jul 30) and

action near Newman

(Jul 27-31)

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's Cavalry raid to Macon, GA, to destroy Confederate railroad lines, with combats at:

Macon and Clinton (Jul 30)

Hillsborough (Jul 30-31)

Mulberry Creek and Jug Tavern (Aug 3), GA.

July 27, 1864 - Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard's, USA, raid to South River, with skirmishes at:

Snapfinger Creek (Jul 27)

Flat Rock Bridge, and Lithonia (Jul 28), GA.

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, USA, assumes the command of the Army of the Tennessee, GA.

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley, USA, succeeds Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, USA, in the command of the 4th US Army Corps, GA.

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, USA, resumes the command of the 15th US Army Corps, GA.

July 27, 1864 - Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams, USA, succeeds Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, USA, in the temporary command of the 20th US Army Corps, GA, as Hooker resigns.

July 27, 1864 - Skirmishes with guerrillas on the Blackwater River (Jul 27), and on Big Creek, MO. (Jul 28). (Jul 27-28)

July 27, 1864 - Federal scout in Chariton County, MO, under Brig. Gen. Clinton B. Fish, USA, commanding the District of North Missouri, with skirmishes with guerrillas (Jul 30) on the Chariton Road, near Keytesville, and at Union Church. (Jul 27-30)

July 27, 1864 - Demonstration on the north bank of the James River and engagement at Deep Bottom (or Darbytown, Strawberry Plains, and New Market Road), VA, by Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, the Richmond, VA, Campaign. (Jul 27-29)

July 27, 1864 - Skirmish near Lee's Mill, VA, the Richmond, VA, Campaign.

July 27, 1864 - Federal expedition from Norfolk, VA, into North Carolina, accomplishing their objects of capturing horses, cotton, and other contraband property, visiting such places as Gatesville, Winton, Wintonville, and Elizabeth City. (Jul 27-Aug 4)

July 27, 1864 - Skirmish at Back Creek Bridge, WV.

July 27, 1864 - Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, USA, is assigned to the command over the Middle Dept. and the Depts. of Washington, West Virginia, and the Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.

July 27, 1883 - Montgomery Blair, American lawyer (Dred Scott v Sandford), and Postmaster General under Lincoln, dies at 70 in Silver Spring, MD.

July 27, 1907 - Edmund Pettus, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 86 in Hot Spring, NC.
 

5fish

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
10,626
Reaction score
4,544
July 27, 1861 - Battle of Mathias Point, Virginia - Rebel forces repel a Federal landing.
This was a early conflict in the war... You learn the navy had to piece together ships to defend the Potomac river... You learn about the first Navy officer to die in the war...

No spot along the Potomac River triggered more angst for Union officials in the spring and summer of 1861 than Virginia’s Mathias Point, a promontory jutting well into the river about 30 miles east of Fredericksburg. At Mathias Point, the Potomac takes a very sharp turn—nearly 270 degrees—and narrows to less than a mile, compelling larger boats traveling up and down the river to abruptly adjust their courses. During the Civil War, that meant that each vessel could become a target for Confederate riflemen or shore batteries lining the channel, threatening to close the river to military and commercial traffic. Rising 20 feet above the river and covered with a dense layer of trees and brush, Mathias Point was a perfect place for the Confederates to conceal troops or a battery of heavy guns ready to wreak havoc on Union ships attempting to pass.

The vitality of the Union capital, already perched perilously between Confederate Virginia and Confederate-leaning Southern Maryland, depended on the free flow of commerce. And in those early months of the war, Commander James Harmon Ward of the neophyte Potomac Flotilla (See sidebars, below) determined uninterrupted ship traffic could never be ensured unless Mathias Point and several other Confederate strongholds below Washington were brought under Union control.

At Mathias Point, Major Thomas Williamson, chief engineer of Virginia state forces, had been pushing for installation of a 10-gun battery but was prevented from doing so by President Jefferson Davis’ senior military adviser, Robert E. Lee, who was worried the point was too vulnerable to a Union land attack.

In late May and early June, Ward’s flotilla had been unable to defeat the Confederate defenses at Aquia Creek, 40 miles below Washington, so Ward turned his attention farther downriver. Even though he was denied the assistance of Union infantry, the 55-year-old commander remained undeterred, and on June 27 he was ready to launch an assault on Mathias Point.

During an early morning artillery barrage intended to chase any Confederates away from the promontory, an armed party of sailors and Marines, led by Lieutenant James C. Chaplin of USS Pawnee, would land, destroy any enemy works already in place, then cut down trees and set fire to the brush to open an expanse that would be clearly visible from the river. Ward hoped to construct and man a Federal battery there.

About 10 a.m., after bombarding the promontory with grape and solid shot from his flotilla, scattering Confederate pickets, Ward put ashore a landing party of more than 30 men outfitted with picks, shovels, sandbags, and all manner of combustible material, including oakum, old canvas, and spirits of turpentine. Once ashore, the men went to work, though burning green scrub proved difficult. Soon, Ward’s sailors were in trouble when a large Rebel force appeared. Hopelessly outnumbered, they made for the small landing boats and protection of the larger vessels.

Confederate musket balls peppered the small boats, severely injuring a number of sailors. One boat’s flagstaff was shot off, only to be carried aloft by a determined bluejacket; another boat’s flag received 19 bullet holes. Frantic for the safety of the larger craft, men couldn’t understand the lack of covering fire from Thomas Freeborn’s big guns. As Ward’s squadron worked to recover the landing party, the commander directed the fight from Thomas Freeborn’s deck, aiming his flagship’s forward 32-pounder himself. Here, in the thickest of the fight, an enemy musket ball struck Ward in the abdomen. In the confusion surrounding the commander’s wounding, no one thought to fire the guns. An hour later, James Ward was gone, the only death that day.

A day that had begun with such promise had ended tragically. Ward was the first U.S. Navy officer killed in the war. Although Mathias Point remained in Confederate hands, the foundation he had established would continue. Over four years of war, the unsung Potomac Flotilla successfully maintained the tenuous security of Washington, D.C., and the vital free flow of commerce along the river.


Here is the link if you read the page you will see a ship named after the Ward had the first kill of WW two... You will learn about how the Potomac was made safe for the union...

LINK: https://www.historynet.com/washingtons-survival-depended-on-makeshift-flotilla.htm


Here is the link to wiki it has more details about the battle...

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mathias_Point

Aftermath:

The Confederates continued to hold their position and operate the battery on Mathias Point, which they completed placing on the point on the day after the battle. They were not attacked by land forces and did not abandon the location and nearby batteries until Confederate forces withdrew from Manassas and other northern Virginia locations on March 9, 1862 in order to protect Richmond from Union forces which were being deployed for the Peninsula Campaign.[17][18]

Commander (later Vice Admiral) Stephen Clegg Rowan, captain of the USS Pawnee, temporarily succeeded Commander Ward as the commander of the Potomac Flotilla. He went on to participate in the actions against the Confederate forts at Hatteras Inlet in the fall of 1861 and was succeeded as commander of the Potomac Flotilla by Captain (later Rear Admiral) Thomas Tingey Craven.[15] One Union sailor, Captain of the Maintop John Williams, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in the Battle of Mathias Point.[19]

Fort Ward in Alexandria, Virginia, was named in honor of Commander Ward. Fort Ward, which was one of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the Civil War, was completed in September 1861. The fort has been largely restored and serves as a museum and historic park.[20]


Here is a link to the Medal of Honor winner... He was quoted saying... "every man must die on his thwart sooner than leave a man behind". and all the men returned...

 
Top