This Week in the Civil War

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This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, May 27: Battle of Seven Pines, Va., rise of Robert E. Lee.

A Union offensive near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., triggers fierce fighting May 31, 1862, at the Battle of Seven Pines — or Fair Oaks — just eight miles east of that city. Confederates defending Richmond under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attack two Federal units south of Virginia's Chickahominy River. The assaults push Union troops back and mark the start of heavy casualties. Fighting rages as more troops on each side join the fray. Johnston is seriously wounded before the battle ends June 1, 1862. This fight ends inconclusively for both sides with more than 13,700 casualties. But significantly, it marks the rise of Gen. Robert E. Lee to the top of the Confederate command soon after Johnston is wounded. All Richmond had anxiously watched and waited, amid worries whether the city's outer defenses would hold. The Associated Press reports May 27, 1862, that a lead article in the Richmond Enquirer recently issued a "clarion call" for Johnston's army to defend the city at any cost: "The time has come when retreat will no longer be strategy but disaster. It must therefore give place to battle" the Enquirer stated. The battle will mark a turning point as Confederate fighters dash the hopes of Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan of seizing Richmond. And it won't be Johnston but the pugnacious Robert E. Lee who will save Richmond and force McClellan to retreat in the fighting just ahead. Elsewhere 150 years ago in the war, Confederate forces defending the northeast Mississippi railroad junction at Corinth, Miss., withdraw rather than surrender to Union soldiers closing in on that city. The Confederates leave behind miles of earthworks defending the approaches to Corinth and a key rail crossing for train lines serving nearly the entire South.

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This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, June 3: Naval battle of Memphis.

This week 150 years ago in the Civil War opens with Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beuregard ordering his troops to abandon Fort Pillow in Tennessee and, soon after, nearby Memphis. Federal forces have recently seized the nearby northeast Mississippi rail junction of Corinth, prompting Beauregard's move. His forces remove guns and supplies from Fort Pillow as they begin their withdrawal. Union forces occupying Corinth essentially control a key railroad line, several rail links between Memphis and other points in the South. On June 6, 1862, Union gunboats and rams on the Mississippi River open up the naval battle of Memphis before dawn, approaching from just north of that city. In an hour and a half of fighting, the Union sinks or captures all but one of the Confederate vessels — mostly converted river steamers — that are seeking to defend Memphis. Spectators line the riverbanks, watching the battle that opens with long-range volleys from the federal attackers. The fight descends into shooting and chaotic attempts at close range by opposing ships to ram rival vessels. The Confederate fleet is defeated. Soon after, the Union flag is raised in Memphis as the city surrenders. A vital Southern city and trading center on the Mississippi has fallen into Union hands. The Associated Press, in a dispatch June 13, 1862, reports the destruction is great around Corinth as the Union takes control there. "The Confederate army has stripped, for food, the whole country north of Corinth, and many of the inhabitants are in a starving condition," AP reports. It adds Confederate forces retreating from the Union forces left behind "half burned locomotives" and spies and deserters report the Confederate army there to be "greatly disorganized, mutinous and deserting."

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This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, June 10: J.E.B. Stuart rides.

Some 150 years ago in the Civil War, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart left Richmond, Va., on June 12, 1862, and began a daring reconnaissance mission on horseback in which his cavalry traced a giant circle around the Union Army of the Potomac. Stuart's three-day, 150-mile roundtrip ride supplied Confederate leadership with key intelligence about the huge Union army of Gen. George B. McClellan, then massed off southeast Virginia in a bid to take the Confederate capital of Richmond. Stuart had already claimed fame by pursuing and harassing routed Union forces in July 1861 as the federals ran from defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas. At the request of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, Stuart and some 1,500 riders set out from Richmond on the intelligence-gathering mission that would encircle McClellan's Union forces and lead to the capture of dozens of Union soldiers. Though not strategically important, Stuart's ride would boost Southern war morale and prove cause for embarrassment for the Union Gen. McClellan. Stuart isn't the only headache for McClellan this week. The Associated Press reports in a dispatch June 14, 1862, that a small group of Confederate troops have struck at Union forces in an area of the Pamunkey River in Virginia — firing on them and reminding the enemy that theyw ill resist all enemy efforts. "The rebels ... burnt two schooners, some wagons, and drove off the mules," AP reported. The dispatch said Confederate shooters also killed two men on a passing train but the paymaster jumped from the train and hid in the woods all night to evade capture. Despite taking Confederate fire, "the train never stopped," the report added.

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This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, June 17: Lincoln bans slavery in the U.S. territories.

In June 1862, President Abraham Lincoln is still months away from issuing his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. But 150 years ago this week in the Civil War, Lincoln signed a bill passed by Congress that would ban slavery in the U.S. territories without compensating former slaveowners. It signals Lincoln is giving deep thought to the issue of slavery as the war drags on. On Sept. 22, 1862, following the Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln would issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, ordering that in 100 days the federal government would deem all slaves free in those states still rebelling against the Union. Meanwhile, the week opens with a vast Union army bristling in eastern Virginia for several major battles that would erupt in coming days and weeks. Those engagements would claim thousands of lives as Confederate forces under Gen. Robert E. Lee would seek to defend their capital of Richmond, Va., from Union foes. The Associated Press reports intermittent shelling followed by calm. One AP dispatch dated June 22, 1862, reports from the field headquarters of Union Gen. George B. McClellan in Virginia that "this has been a remarkably quiet day, considering the close proximity of the two contending forces." But The AP reports there had been "brisk skirmishing" the previous day and concludes: "everything indicated that a general engagement was at hand." Meanwhile, there are the usual daily incidents of war. A dispatch this week reports that Union soldiers hunting for deserters in northern Virginia "came upon a rebel mail carrier, who was endeavoring to conceal himself in the woods." It added a "large quantity of letters to prominent officers in the rebel service, many of which contain valuable information," were found in the mail bag" of the arrested man.