CAMPAIGNS THIS MONTH:

MAJOR BATTLES THIS MONTH:

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MARCH 1:

• President Jefferson Davis puts Richmond under martial law/1862 
• Union's Dahlgreen and Kilpatrick try to enter Richmond on a raid/1864
  

MARCH 2:

• [TENNESSEE RIVER OFFENSIVE] Leonidas Polk abandons Columbus, Kentucky/1862 
• 200 men of the 5th New York Cavalry, 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and First Vermont Cavalry at midnight this morning form on the Little River turnpike and march off under the command of Major Joseph Gilmer. Their mission is to capture Captain John S. Mosby. Gilmer comes up to Middleburg searching. At Aldie, Captain Mosby, with 17 men, overtakes and surprises Gilmer's rear squadron composed of 59 men of the First Vermont capturing 2 captains and 17 men together with their arms, 23 horses and accoutrements. This action scares Gilmer and causes him to retreat ten miles./1863 
• sheridan destroys Early's remaining troops in the Shenandoah Valley at the Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia/1865 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Culbraith Butler's cavalry and sherman skirmish at Chesterfield, South Carolina, while federal scouts under Kilpatrick burn Wadesboro, North Carolina/1865 

MARCH 3:

• The US Congress passes the Missouri Compromise/1820 
• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard arrives in Charleston to find crude preparations by the South Carolinians to capture Fort Sumter. Beauregard has Presidential orders to strengthen the Southern fortifications/1861 
• The CS Congress asks President Davis what of men, munitions, et cetera, in his judgement, are needed/1862 
• The US Congress passes the draft law/1863 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Hardee evacuates Cheraw, South Carolina; the XXVII Corps takes control of the town. Meanwhile, Patriots Stewart and Cheatham reach Chester, SC, from Mississippi. Joseph Wheeler skirmishes all day with Kilpatrick and takes 50 prisoners at Phillip's Crossroads, NC/1865
  

MARCH 4:

• The Confederacy receives its first flag, the Stars and Bars/1861 
• President Davis appoints Stephen R. Mallory Secretary of the Navy/1861 
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] sherman returns to Grant's forces around Vicksburg after a damaging, month-long raid to Meridan, Mississippi/1863 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Hardee reaches Rockingham, NC, a few miles across the state line. Meanwhile, Schofield, not having heard from sherman since he himself left Beaufort, SC, sends a naval party in search of him, apparently afraid of what the Southrons might have done to him/1865

MARCH 5:

• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Wheeler and Kilpatrick arrive at the banks of the Pee Dee River/1865

MARCH 6:

• President Davis appoints John H. Reagan to the post of Postmaster-General of the Confederacy/1861 
• President Davis calls for 100,000 volunteers to repel armed invasion by lincoln's forces. Accordingly, today, Confederate Congress authorizes President Davis to accept militia units tendered by state governors/1861 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLIINAS] Joseph Wheeler arrives the the Pee Dee which is at flood stage. He has to try to cross. Out of 21 men who brave the torrent, only 2 Texans and their gallant commander Wheeler make it across. Kilpatrick, however, manages a crossing of the Pee Dee River near Morven's Post Office. sherman also crosses the Pee Dee at Cheraw, SC, and heads for Fayetteville, NC. Meanwhile, William Duncan, a federal dressed in Confederate uniform (wolf in Sheep's clothing), scouts as far as Laurel Hill, North Carolina/1865

MARCH 7:

• The Battle of Elkhorn Tavern or Pea Ridge, Arkansas, begins. Albert Pike with 2000 Indians help compose Confederate Forces/1862
•  [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Wheeler and his 2 Texans, across the Pee Dee, get in touch with some of his scouts who have crossed upstream, and together they attack and kill or capture all of the 35 foragers they encounter. Similarly, Hardee's rear guard skirmishes with foragers in Rockingham, NC, but Kilpatrick's reinforcement of the marauders drives the Patriots from the town. The XX Corps reaches Marks Station, NC, where the pyromaniacs find to their chagrin all railroad equipment and buildings already destroyed by the retreating Confederates/1865

MARCH 8:

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] A clumsy gun crew exercising with "blank" charges at Morris Island bounces a shot off the wharf at Fort Sumter, doing no harm but leaving a long white scar in the paving. Apologies ensue and everythings is smoothed over. Investigators find that the gun had been left loaded with a live round at a previous drill. No one had thought to check if the bore was clear./1861 
• The ironclad CSS VIRGINIA burns the USS CONGRESS, sinks the USS CUMBERLAND, and runs the USS MINNESOTA aground at Hampton Roads, Virginia/1862 
• Confederate forces of 2000 Indians under Albert Pike suffer severely in the battle of Elkhorn, Arkansas; however, the battle is of no material advantage to either side. McCullock, a noted Texas Ranger, is killed/1862 
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] Grant abandons attempts to bypass the Vicksburg defences on the River via the Canal and Lake Providence/1863 
• In Richmond, the Congress passes a bill creating a new Confederate flag. This one has the battleflag in the canton, placed on a white field, with a red bar on the fly end/1865 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] The Battle of Kinston (Wise's Forks), North Carolina, begins near the Coast. Braxton Bragg vs. Schofield/1865 
• In heavy rain, Wheeler's command manages a crossing of the Pee Dee River and proceeds to Fayetteville, NC. The last federal corps, the worst, the XVth, crosses the state line into North Carolina, today. Kilpatrick attacks Hardee and begins chasing Hampton who is already withdrawing on Fayetteville/1865

MARCH 9:

• The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, lincoln's organ, reports that today's Cabinet meeting in Washington determined to withdraw the troops from both Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens. That Major Anderson would be ordered to give up Fort Sumter is the universal impression in Washington/1861 
• At Hampton Roads, the C.S.S. VIRGINIA and the U.S.S. MONITOR fight a battle which ends when the MONITOR must withdraw/1862 
• At 2:00 this morning, Captain John S. Mosby, after riding past the federal pickets and passing the union cavalry without a shot, rides up to the Fairfax Courthouse, the area's union headquarters. All the troops in town are asleep. The pitch dark night makes it impossible to tell whether Mosby's Men are federal or not, although they wear Confederate gray-- twenty-nine men surrounded by hostile thousands. When Mosby rides up to the courthouse square, he sends some of his men to the stables for the fine horses there. Mosby goes to Stoughton's headquarters, to Stoughton's room, wakes the general with a slap and says, "General, did you ever hear of Mosby?" "Yes," Stoughton answers quickly. "Have you caught him?" "No," said Mosby. "I am Mosby--he has caught you." Mosby took the town for an hour and without a shot. abraham lincoln's cynical reaction was that he didn't care so much about the general, as he could make another in five minutes, but that he hated to lose the horses. Mosby captured one general, two captains, thirty privates, and fifty-eight horses. Mosby will be promoted to major as a result of this capture and will be authorized to organize a battalion--the 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers/1863 
• Ulysses S. Grant is named general-in-chief of the northern forces/1864 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] In heavy rain, Blair sends mounted infantry on a raid on Lumberton, NC, where destruction is the key word. Culbraith Butler attacks Kilpatrick at Monroe's Crossroads and Little Kil narrowly escapes capture, riding off in his underwear. The Confederates, however, are driven off by artillery fire, and the cavalry joins Hardee near Fayetteville/1865

MARCH 10:

• Stonewall Jackson, in preparation for his Valley Campaign, is stationed 30 miles south of Winchester, today/1862 
• Confederate Forces under Braxton Brragg abandon Kinston, NC, as the federals win the battle/1865 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Blair send the 9th Illinois to destroy the Rockfish, NC, textile plant. They level it/1865

MARCH 11:

• President Davis' Peace Commissioners request a meeting with United States Secretary of State, the Hon. Mr. Seward, but Mr. Seward refuses an interview/1861 
• The Confederate Congress adopts a Permanent Constitution for the Confederacy today/1861 
• Halleck takes command of federal forcess in the West/1862 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Federal scout Duncan's raid on Confederate-held Fayetteville, NC, ends in a skirmish at that town leaving union losses at 11 killed and 12 captured including Captain Duncan. The only Confederate casualty is a mare. In any event, by sundown, sherman has control of Fayetteville, and the Patriots retreat across the Cape Fear River and open their artillery on the federals in the town. The steamer DAVIDSON arrives at Fayetteville from the coast--the yankees' first communication with the outside world since leaving Savannah/1865

MARCH 12:

• [RED RIVER CAMPAIGN] One of the biggest military fiascos of the war begins as a combined Union force of infantry and riverboats begins moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The month-long campaign will be poorly managed and achieve none of the objectives set forth by Union commanders.  The campaign has several strategic goals. The Union hopes to capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue into Texas. Lincoln hopes to send a symbolic warning to France, which has set up a puppet government in Mexico and seems to have designs on territorial expansion. Finally, the expedition could also capture cotton-producing regions, a product in short supply in the North. /1864

MARCH 13:

• [TENNESSEE RIVER OFFENSIVE] Confederate troops take New Madrid, Missouri/1862 
• Congress authorizes President Davis today to recruit 300,000 slaves for the Army/1865

MARCH 14: 

• Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin/1794 
• [TENNESSEE RIVER OFFENSIVE] Confederaate troops withdraw from New Madrid, Missouri, a day after taking control of the town. The withdrawal opens the way for a federal attack on Island No. 10/1862 
• Ambrose E. Burnside captures New Bern, North Carolina/1862

MARCH 15: 

• Secretary of State William Seward unofficially communicates with the Confederate Commissioners through Supreme Court Justice Campbell of Alabama that Fort Sumter would be yielded at once to the Confederacy/1861 
• [SEIGE OF FORT SUMTER] In Charlestton Harbour, the Floating Battery is completed and a seven gun salute is fired to celebrate the completion. The first ironclad boat, the battery, built on the waterfront by Lieutenant J.R. Hamilton, it is composed of pine logs, buttressed in front with palmettos and wholly strapped with iron. Resembling a barge, this 25 feet wide by 100 feet long battery has a 3-sided peak-roofed barn across the bow and a platform of sandbags extending the width of the stern. One side has four cannon "windows." The powder magazine is below the waterline and protected by sandbags. A small hospital is attached behind the Floating Battery on a separate raft. "The Raft," as it is called by Anderson's men in Sumter, or "The Slaughter Pen," as the Southrons call it, is armed with two 8-inch columbiads with the shot stored in bins behind the guns/1861 
• [RED RIVER CAMPAIGN] Porter's union flotilla reaches Alexandria, Louisiana, to spearhead the Red River Campaign/1864

MARCH 16:

• Secretary of State, the Honorable Robert Toombs, dispatches three commissioners to Britain and then France to secure recognition for the Confederacy/1861 -The C.S.S. ALABAMA captures the PENJAUB/1863

MARCH 17:

• The Honorable G.W. Randolph is appointed Secretary of War/1862 
• [TENNESSEE RIVER OFFENSIVE] Grant takes command of the federals at Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee/1862 
• The gallant Major John Pelham is killed at Kelly's Ford, Virginia/1863 
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] Grant's Yazoo Pass Expedition is blocked a Fort Pemberton/1863 
• At 1:00pm, Captain Mosby attacks at Herndon Station, in Fairfax County, the reserve picket post of Company L of the First Vermont Cavalry of 25 men under Second Lieutenant Alexander G. Watson. He captures one major, one captain, two lieutenants, and 21 privates, with 26 horses and equipments. As a result, the federals move their cavalry from Germantown back to Fairfax Courthouse on the Alexandria pike/1863 
• [SIEGE OF MOBILE] Canby opens a ssiege on Mobile, Alabama, and the Confederate commander there, Matthew Fontaine Maury, whose job is director of Seacoast Defenses for the Confederacy/1865 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Kilpatrick crosses the Black River and advances on Goldsboro, NC. The XIV Corps crosses the Black River and encamps on the west side/1865

MARCH 18:

• John C. Calhoun born, 1782 
• President Davis issues his nominations for Cabinet to the Senate/1862 
• [RED RIVER CAMPAIGN] sherman assumes command of the principal armies in the West/1864 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLIINAS] Hardee begins his March on Bentonville, NC. Confederate cavalry skirmishes and retreats across Bushy Swamp, drawing the yankees into an ambuscade of artillery fire. sherman orders a halt of the army/1865 
• The Second Confederate Congress goes through its final adjournment today/1865

MARCH 19:

• Senate ratifies Davis' Cabinet/1862 
• Nine inches of snow falls in Richmond today, keeping the badly-needed food on the farms/1863 
• Schofield moves into and takes Kinston, NC, which has been abandoned by Bragg for nine days/1865 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] The Battle of Bentonville commences when sherman throws his men onto Hardee's lines. Hardee's ragged band routs the spendidly-equipped, brave federals/1865

MARCH 20:

• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Logan begins to march to Bentonville, NC, to aid sherman in his assaults. Meanwhile, the federals on the Bentonville battlefield push forward, but do not drive the Patriots away/1865

MARCH 21:

• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] sherman rescues Rear Admiral Porter's iron- clads, which are trapped at Steele's Bayou, ending another attempt to reach Vicksburg by rear/1863 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] After Patriot Colonel Pool evacuates Goldsboro, NC, sherman, Schofield, and Terry meet there; while back at Bentonville, the three-day battle ends with the union in possession of the field/1865

MARCH 22:

• The Honorable James A. Seddon is appointed Secretary of War/1862

MARCH 23:

• Today is the anniversary of Patrick Henry's speech to the Virginia Convention. He declared in 1775 exactly what the Confederate soldier acts out everyday: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Unfortunately, almost half of the Confederate Patriots will be given the latter. 
• [VALLEY CAMPAIGN] Stonewall Jackson yields to larger numbers in the battle at Kernstown (Winchester), Virginia, in the first battle of his Shenandoah Valley Campaign. General Jackson suspends Gen. Garnett of the Stonewall Brigade from office for not bringing the reserved 5th Va. Vols. into battle in time. Thankfully, the campaign will end in victory for the Southern forces, with the federal troops driven across the Potomac/1862 
• The C.S.S. ALABAMA captures the CHARLES HILL and NORA/1863 
• Confederate Congress passes a policy ordering $50,000,000 in treasury notes to be exchanged for 30 year bonds at 6%/1863 
• Captain John S. Mosby, having determined to attempt to surprise the outposts of 100 cavalry at Chantilly and Frying Pan, proceeds from Rector's Crossroads, down the turnpike to within six miles of Chantilly where he leaves the road and continues through the woods to within one mile of the Chantilly mansion toward a picket posted on a small run on the Little River Turnpike. Some of the Patriots attack at 5:00pm, and a large force under Lt-Col Robert Johnstone's 5th New York Cavalry pursue them, causing Mosby to fall back behind a barricade of fallen trees and await their coming. The federal attack wavers in Mosby's fire, and a Rangers' countercharge drives the federals back three miles who cannot rally. Here Frying Pan Church federal reserves under Captains McGuinn and Hasbrouck compels Mosby to retreat. Federal loss is 5 killed, several wounded, 35 prisoners/1863 
• [RED RIVER CAMPAIGN] Steele advances from Little Rock, Arkansas, to join the US Red River Campaign/1864 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] sherman's army occupies abandoned Goldsboro, NC/1865

MARCH 24:

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] Colonel Ward H. Lamon arrives from Washington at Fort Sumter, after having received permission from Governor Pickens to visit Major Anderson as a "confidential agent of the President" to make arrangements for the removal of the garrison. Lamon impresses on Major Anderson and the garrison that the command will soon be withdrawn. Lamon notifies Governor Pickens "that the President professed a desire to evacuate the work."/1861 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] Grant orders the combination of Schofield's and Terry's army from the North Carolina coast, and sherman's army to advance on Richmond/1865

MARCH 25:

• Ambrose E. Burnside is appointed commander of the Department of the Ohio with orders to operate in East Tennessee/1863 
• [RED RIVER CAMPAIGN] Gen. Nathaniel Banks assumes union command of the Red River Campaign/1864 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] sherman leaves his army at Goldsboro and heads for the NC coast to board a ship to council with Grant in Virginia/1865 
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Lee makes a desparate attempt to break the federal line at the Appomattox River. He captures Fort Stedman, only to be immediately retaken by the federals/1865

MARCH 26:

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard reports to Montgomery that "My defensive and offensive batteries . . . will all be finished and armed tomorrow night or the day after."/1861 
• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION] South Carolina Convention Delegates assemble today at St. Andrews Hall in Charleston. The top order of business is the ratification of the Confederate Constitution, which was ratified two weeks ago. A certified copy of the Constitution waits there, which will receive ample discussion in the coming days/1861 
• The Battle of Apache Canyon (Glorietta Pass), New Mexico Territory, begins between federals under Slough and Chivington, and Confederates under Pyron and Scurry/1862 
• Confederate Congress orders the impressment of house servants and field hands as military laborers/1863 
• [sHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS] sherman boards the USS RUSSIA to City Point, Virginia, for a council with Grant/1865

MARCH 27:

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION][siege OF FORT SUMTER] General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard invites the Convention to visit the Charleston fortifications/1861 
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] As sheridan, fresh from the Valley, rejoins the Army of the Potomac at Petersburg, sherman arrives at City Point, Va, to meet with Grant/1865

MARCH 28:

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION] 200 copies of the Ordinance of Secession are ordered for the Convention's use/1861 
• Confederates under Pyron and Scurry lose the Battle of Glorietta Pass (Apache Canyon), New Mexico Territory/1862 
• President Davis issues a request for a draft of soldiers/1862

MARCH 29:

• [2nd SESSION OF CONVENTION] The Convention goes into secret session to debate the ratification of the Constitution/1861 
• FIRST DAY OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES-UNION MILITARY ACT OF WAR-mr. abraham lincoln orders an expedition to be ready to sail in a week to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter/1861 
• [TENNESSEE RIVER OFFENSIVE] Albert Sidney Johnston reassembles the Confederate Western forces at Corinth, Mississippi/1862
•  [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] The Battle at Dinwiddie Courthouse and White Oak Road begins/1865

MARCH 30:

• Nathan Bedford Forrest raids Bolivar, Tennessee /1864
  

MARCH 31:

• Captain Mosby with 10 men rides toward Dranesville and up the Leesburg turnpike, finding that the federals have withdrawn about 10 miles down the Alexandria pike. Mosby returns 6-8 miles up the pike and camps 2 miles north of the pike at Miskel's Farm, 1/2 mile from the Potomac River. (the Battle is April 1)/1863 
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] The battle of Dinwiddie CH and White Oak Road ends in a draw/1865

LATE MARCH:

• President Davis despatches Louisianan Duncan F. Kenner to the unofficial Confederate embassies in London and Paris. Kenner's mission is no less than to offer in the name of the Confederate States to emancipate all the slaves in exchange for recognition/1865