Episodes Nearest to May 4, 1862: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Timothy Webster Becomes First Spy Executed in the Civil War
    date May 4, 1862map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Civil War, Timothy Webster, Espionage

    On the day of April 29, 1862, Timothy Webster became the first person executed during the Civil War for acts of espionage. Convicted four days prior to his execution, a court-martial in Richmond, Virginia ruled that Webster, an “alien enemy,” should “suffer death by hanging.” The New York Times republished an original article from the Richmond Dispatch relaying the information...

  2. Federal Government issues the Homestead Act
    date May 8, 1862map Washington City, District of Columbiatags 37th Congress

    Millions of unsettled acres remained in the west by the 1850s, and the Republicans viewed the land as an opportunity to offer it to settlers for next to nothing. Republicans drafted a homestead bill, but southern senators immediately rejected it. One southerner explained it "would prove a most efficient ally for Abolition by encouraging and stimulating the settlement of free farms with Yankees and...

  3. Going To War
    date April 25, 1862 to May 1, 1862map ORLEANS, Louisianatags War

    Shouts and cheers filled the air as the words The Washington Artillery is going to war hummed through the streets. A telegram was sent by L. Pope Walker, the Secretary of War, to the battalion of artillery stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana. In preparation for the journey to Lynchburg, Virginia, contributions of money and clothing were raised by the women. Without any expense from the state or...

  4. Southerners Interactions With Northern Soldiers
    date March 14, 1862 to July 7, 1862map SHENANDOAH, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, War, Women

    On March 14, 1862 in Shenandoah County, Virginia three Union soldiers marched to the door of Sigismunda S. Kimball, the wife of a southern planter, and demanded supplies. The soldiers threatened Mrs. Kimball saying they had plenty of ladies prisoners and continued to torment her. On July 6, 1862 two Yankee soldiers came up to the house and demanded for the key to the corn house, saying they had...

  5. A descriptive entry about a wife of a rice planter during the Civil War. She discusses the issues she and her family endured during the war.
    date May 12, 1862map COLLETON, South Carolinatags Diary, Civil War, Wife

    Margaret Ann Meta Morris, (1810-1881) was the wife of a rice planter. She resided in coastal South Carolina with her family. She kept a personal diary in which she focused on topics such as her family being ill, historical events, plantation life, her children’s involvement in the Civil War, and her teaching efforts. The entry on May 12, 1862, describes what she endured while she and her family...

  6. African American servicemen in the Civil War
    date May, 1862 to 1862map DUVAL, Floridatags Civil War, Wounded Soldiers, Emancipation

    “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny he has earned the right to citizenship.”

    --Frederick Douglass

     

    In books around the world, conventional history teaches that the American Civil War and black slavery are inextricably...

  7. A Contraband Works for the Union
    date April 14, 1862 to April 28, 1862map KANAWHA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    The contraband only spent a short time working for James D. Templeton's brigade before his death, but in that time the ex-slave managed to leave a lasting impression. Templeton was a young Union soldier from Savannah, Ohio who took part in several major battles of the Civil War, including Antietam. He spent much of his first two years in the mountains of West Virginia, as the horn player in...

  8. The Battle at Yorktown
    date April 5, 1862 to May 4, 1862map YORK, Virginiatags Government, Politics, War

    The Civil War was raging on a day in early April in 1862 when Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and his Union troops marched south from Fort Monroe. On his way south he and his army ran into a small group of Confederate troops led by Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder in Yorktown Virginia. Magruder put on a show and made McClellan think that he had a very large army behind him therefore encouraging McClellan...

  9. Reports of Southern Atrocities at Manassas Published
    date April 1, 1862 to May 5, 1862map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, War

    There had been reports of horror coming from the battlefield at Manassas. In April 1862, the Senate Committee on the Conduct of War was asked to investigate accusations of Confederate crimes against Union dead and wounded at the First Battle of Manassas. On May 5, 1862, The Chicago Tribune published the Committee's report, including excerpts of testimony and their conclusions. The...

  10. Runaway Slaves Seek Refuge in Union Camp
    date May 21, 1862map JEFFERSON, Louisianatags African-Americans, Government, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    One morning in May two slaves, Sam and Mary, belonging to Mr. Mitthoff, left their home and went to Camp Parapet, a Union fort. They took with them an assortment of Mitthoff's property, including livestock, a cart, and clothing. Mitthoff's son went after the slaves and attempted to bring back the cart and other items.When leaving the camp he was asked to show his passports. He was then...

  11. Union Sentiment in Mississippi
    date May 21, 1862map YAZOO, Mississippitags Politics, War, Women

    Dedication to one's state and the Confederacy was of utmost importance to citizens of the South during the Civil War. Union sentiment or the suggestion of a peace negotiation with the Federal Government was considered an abomination among stanch Southern Confederates, including women. However, Unionists did exist on the southern home front, a struggle that pitted families and neighbors against...

  12. Fleeing Louisiana on a Steamboat
    date April, 1862map LAFOURCHE, Louisianatags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    In the middle of the night Richard, the Fearn's son, awoke his parents to tell them that New Orleans had fallen to the Yankees. During breakfast this unsettling news was reinforced as a man rode by the Fearn home yelling, The Yankees are coming It was clear to the Fearns that they had to leave their home as soon as possible. In the panic to depart, Mrs. Fearn was too distraught. She could barely...

  13. More than Just Dancing at the Ball
    date April, 1862map LAFOURCHE, Louisianatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Arts/Leisure, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Every year the Fearn plantation threw a ball in honor of the magnitude of work that had been done the year prior. The slaves put much effort into the night to make it the happiest of times. Slaves on the plantation looked forward to the ball each year. This year the ball fell on a beautiful night. The Fearns were the last to leave for the ball. As they followed the path to get there, a large slave...

  14. Women in Post-Civil War New Orleans
    date April, 1862 to 1862map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Women, New Orleans, Civil War

    For one of the first times in American history, the women of New Orleans were taking the protection of their city and its reputation into their own hands. Spitting and yelling at soldiers from the north and refusing to even acknowledge their presence in the streets, even when the soldiers were offering the women assistance. There were many hostile feelings between the north and the...

  15. Beaufort's Change of HeartBeaufort's Change of Heart
    date March, 1862 to May, 1862map CARTERET, North Carolinatags War

    In March of 1862, a northern soldier stepped on board the steamer Union to accompany it on its journey down South to attempt to take the Confederate locations of Beaufort and Fort Macon. Once the ship landed on the North Carolina coast, the soldier disembarked and continued the voyage on foot with several other men. They were headed twenty miles north towards the city of Morehead City, North Carolina,...

  16. Confederate Disorganization Leads to Chaos at Shiloh
    date April 6, 1862 to April 14, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags Civil War, The Battle of Shiloh

    During the battle of Shiloh, Colonel Issac L. Dunlop discovered that even the clearest laid plans and troop organization can be turned into complete chaos after the start of battle.  According to the Official Reports of the battle, Colonel Isaac L. Dunlop and his Ninth Arkansas Infantry are clearly put under the command of Brigadier General J.C. Breckinridge in the Reserve Corps, to the east of...

  17. Phillip Sheridan’s First Raid as Colonel
    date May 27, 1862 to May 29, 1862map TISHOMINGO, Mississippitags Civil War, Phillip Sheridan

     Phillip Sheridan had recently been appointed Colonel of the Second Regiment of Michigan Cavalry two days before a raid on Booneville, Mississippi. On the morning of May 27, 1862, Governor Austin Blair of Michigan formally gave Sheridan command of the regiment.  Sheridan explained that the regiment “was run down by losses from sickness, and considerably split into factions growing out of jealousies...

  18. Turning the Tide: Col. Samuel Beatty's experience at Shiloh
    date April 9, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags The Battle of Shiloh, Civil War

    Reversing momentum is a crucial element that is necessary for success, whether on a football field or a field of battle. Often, however, those involved in these critical moments do not realize their own significance. On April 9, 1862, Colonel Samuel Beatty, of the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry submitted a report which detailed the actions of his regiment during the Battle of Shiloh two days earlier....

  19. Shiloh As Witnessed by the Sixth Iowa Regiment
    date April 6, 1862 to April 10, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags battle of shiloh, Sixth Iowa Infantry

    Similar to the soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi, the recruits of the Sixth Iowa Regiment in Grant’s Army of the Tennessee found warfare during the battle of Shiloh to be far more intense than any of their previous combat experiences. Mustered on July 17, 1861, the Sixth Iowa Infantry Regiment participated in the expeditions to Springfield and Crump’s Landing along the Tennessee River...

  20. Raw Meat: The Nineteenth Louisiana Regiment at Shiloh
    date April 6, 1862 to April 10, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags Nineteenth Louisiana, battle of shiloh

    The experiences during the first day of combat at Shiloh were a display of a new level of brutality encountered in American warfare, with no unit better exhibiting this change than the Nineteenth Louisiana Regiment. A regiment of the First Brigade under Colonel Gibson in the Army of the Mississippi and led by Colonel B.L. Hodge, the Nineteenth Louisiana entered combat on the Sunday of April 6, 1862...

  21. The Battle of Shiloh
    date April 6, 1862 to April 7, 1862map GRAINGER, Tennesseetags War

    On April 6th and 7th, the Battle of Shiloh took place taking the lives of more men than in all previous American wars combined. Just off the banks of the Tennessee River, a Confederate surprise attack left General Ulysses S. Grant's troops unprepared with nightfall on the 6th having the federal troops on the verge of defeat. By the end of fighting in the area after the initial attack, there...

  22. Sherman Praises Soldiers of the Fifth Divison
    date April 6, 1862 to April 7, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags 32nd Indiana Regiment, The Battle of Shiloh

    During the Battle of Shiloh, General William Tecumseh Sherman gained an appreciation for the bravery of his men. As seen in his after-action report, Confederates surprised the Fifth Division with their attack and Sherman's forces were driven far from their encampment. Though the army was in a panic, the retreat was ultimately halted and Sherman's men held their ground. The 32nd Indiana behaved...

  23. Shiloh: Col. Cyprus Hall, 14th Illionois Infantry.
    date April 6, 1862 to April 7, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags Civil War, 1862, Shiloh, Pittsburgh Landing, Cyprus Hall, Union Army

    Colonel Hall’s experience in the Battle of Shiloh is unique from any common and popular knowledge of what actually took place during the battle. The general populations’ recognition of the battles in the west does not compare to their recognition of the battles in the east such as Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry. The reason is that the battles in the east took place in close proximity to some of...

  24. Shiloh: Col. Ralph P. Buckland, 72nd Ohio Infantry.
    date April 6, 1862 to April 7, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags Ralph P. Buckland, Pittsburgh Landing, 1862, Shiloh, Civil War

    Colonel Buckland’s experience in the battle of Shiloh is unique from any popular knowledge of the battle. The general populations’ recognition of the battles in the west, concentrating on Shiloh in particular, does not equate to their recognition of the battles in the east such as Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry. The reason is that the battles in the east took place in close proximity to some of...

  25. Col. John C. Moore's report of The Battle of Shiloh
    date April 6, 1862 to April 7, 1862map HARDIN, Tennesseetags The Battle of Shiloh, Civil War

    “In justice to my regiment, permit me to say that no other regiment entered the fight on that day under more unfavorable circumstances than the Second Texas.” Colonel John C. Moore included this in the beginning of his report on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Tired, hungry, and lacking supplies, the Second Texas Infantry left Texas, met with the rest of the Army of Mississippi and then...