September 4 In Civil War History

[Jim Klag]

On this day in Civil War history
Compiled by Mitchell Werksman and Jim Klag

September 4 Antebellum Events

1841 - The Distribution Preemption Act passes Congress, giving settlers 160 acres of land in the West for $1.25 per acre.

Wednesday September 4 1861

• The USS Jamestown captures and burns the blockade runner, the Col. Long, off the coast of Georgia.
• Engagement at Hickman and Columbus, KY, with the Union gunboats, USS Lexington and the USS Tyler, and the Confederate shore batteries along with the CSS Jackson.
• Skirmish at Great Falls, MD, with Brig. Gen. George A. McCall, USA, with his 6th Regiment suffering with typhoid fever.
• Action at Shelbina, MO, with Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, USA, evacuating Shelbina.
• Brig. Gen. Earl Van Dorn CSA, transfers the command of the Dept. of Texas to Col. Henry Eustace McCulloch, 1 st TX Rifles.

Thursday September 4 1862

• Charles Champion Giblert, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
• The CSA Steamer, Oreto eludes the Union vessel, Oneida, and arrives safely through the Union blockade at Mobile Bay, AL.
• Skirmish at Shelbyville, KY.
• Affairs at Boutte Station and Bayou des Allemands, LA, after the Texas Rangers ambush some Federals, are pursued into the local swamps, with many captured, by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, USA. (Sep 4-5)
• Skirmishes at Point of Rocks and Berlin, MD. (Sep 4-5)
• Skirmishes at Poolesville, MD. (Sep 4-5)
• Skirmish with the Sioux Indians at Hutchinson, MN.
• Federal scouts in Callaway County, MO.
• Skirmish at Prairie Chapel, MO.
• Brig. Gen. Albert Gallatin Jenkin's, CSA, Cavalry raid into Ohio and West Virginia continues.
• The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac by the fords near Leesburg, VA, into Maryland, as the Federals evacuate Frederick, MD. (Sep 4-7)

Friday September 4 1863

• Federal scout from Fort Ly on, the Colorado Territory, to ward Fort Larned, KS.
• Affair at Quincy, MO, as a band of guerrillas dash into town firing their weapons which wounds and kill a few men. They also took and killed 3 or 4 men of the 18th Iowa.
• Federal scout from Cold Water Grove, to Pleaseant Hill and Big Creek, MO, and skirmishes, where the Federals ambush and kill some 6 bushwackers.
• Federal boat expeditions against Battery Gregg, Morris, Island, SC. (Sep 4-6)
• The Sabine Pass (Texas) Expedition, sets out from New Orleans, LA, under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, USA, with the assistance of the US gunboats, USS Arizona, Clifton, Granite City, and the Sachem. (Sep 4-11)
• The Confederate's unsuccessful attempt by men under Maj. Gen. JEB Stuart, CSA, to capture Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, USA, near New Baltimore, VA.
• Skirmish at Moorefield, WV.
• Skirmish at Petersburg Gap, WV, with Federals Marching from Petersburg, WV.

Sunday September 4 1864

• Brig. Gen. John Herbert Kelly, CSA, dies from the battle wounds he received September 2, 1864, at the Battle of Franklin, TN.
• Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, CSA, is mortally wounded near Knoxville, TN, killed by a Federal detachment, in the garden of the house he had slept at the night before.
• Skirmish at Brownsville, AR.
• The Confederate attack on the Federal steamers, Celeste and Commercial, at Gregory's Landing, on the White River, AR, is unable to capture or damage the vessels, but inflicting human casualties just the same.
• Affair 9 miles above Donaldsonville, LA, as the Rebels attack Federal couriers coming from Plaquemine to Donaldsonville.
• After two straight months, the Yankees end their 3rd massive bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, SC, without the fort succumbing, after almost 15,000 shells fired into the fort.
• Skirmish at Berryville, VA, as Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early, CSA, pulls his forces back up the Shenandoah Valley, with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, USA, in hot pursuit.
• Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, USA, is in temporary command of the 18th US Army Corps, the Petersburg, VA, siege lines, the Richmond, VA, Campaign.

Monday September 4 1865

• Skirmish with Indians at Powder River, the Montana Territory, as about 150 Indians of a total group estimated to be from 500 to 2,000 attack a party of Federal Cavalry, killing 2 and wounding another; the Indians have about 5 killed. The Indians regroup and attack again, this time leaving another 7 or 8 dead on the field.