CAMPAIGNS THIS MONTH:

MAJOR BATTLES THIS MONTH:

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SEPTEMBER 1

• [CLERGY TRAP CAMPAIGN] Lee orders Jackson to attack Pope's right and Longstreet his front. Pope's demoralized forces retire on Fairfax Court House, and after a sharp engagement at Chantilly-CS (Ox Hill-US), Virginia, Pope retreats to the formidable forts at Alexandria, across the Potomac from Washington. At Chantilly, Major General Philip Kearney, USA, mistakes a line of Confederates as his own men riding into their midst, realizes his error and wheels receiving a death-dealing bullet. Lee has with 55,000 men driven an army of 80,000 to the Gates of Washington. Edward A. Moore, in his STORY OF A CANNONEER UNDER STONEWALL JACKSON writes: We had "whipped" the federals "out of their boots and several other articles of attire."/1862
• [ATLANTA CAMPAIGN] Hood evacuates Atlanta after sherman reaches Jonesboro, Georgia/1864

SEPTEMBER 2

• [CLERGY TRAP CAMPAIGN] McClellan replaces Pope in command of the Army of the Potomac/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] General Lee orders a crossing of the Potomac into Maryland. Screened by Stuart's Cavalry, Jackson, heading the invasion, moves toward the fords above Leesburg/1862
• [INVASION OF KENTUCKY] Edmund Kirby Smith takes Lexington, Kentucky/1862
• [DRIVE ON KNOXVILLE] Burnside takes Knoxville/1863
• [ATLANTA CAMPAIGN] Hood establishes a Confederate Defensive Line at Lovejoy's Station. sherman takes Atlanta/1864

SEPTEMBER 3

• General Lee writes President Davis from his headquarters on the Alexandria and Leesburg Road near Dranesville about his reasons for an invasion to relieve Maryland/1862

SEPTEMBER 4

• Bishop Leonidas Polk takes Columbus, Kentucky//1861
• ALABAMA makes Pico and Fayal Islands in the Western Azores/1862
• [CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN] Bragg retreats as Rosencrantz crosses the Tennessee River in his advance on Chattanooga/1863
• In Mobile, hungry citizens riot, and their signs read, "Bread or Blood."/1863
• John Hunt Morgan is killed at Greeneville, Tennessee/1864
• sherman barbarously orders all civilians out of Atlanta/1864

SEPTEMBER 5

• C.S.S. ALABAMA captures its first prize the U.S.S. OCMULGEE of Edgartown, Massachusetts, a whaler, without a chase. Captain Raphael Semmes hoists the United States colors and the OCMULGEE with a whale alongside sits still. Afraid to burn her at night because it might scare other whalers in the area away, Captain Semmes waits until morning/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] Lee's Army crosses the Potomac into Maryland, opening an invasion of the North. Strict orders have been issued against foraging or leaving the ranks/1862
• Lieutenant Thomas Turner, in command of Mosby's Rangers in Mosby's absence because of a side and thigh wound in a skirmish at Billy Goodwin's Tavern, 40 men attack a picket post at Gaskins Mill on Carter's Run near Waterloo, Virginia, and kill three, wounding a number, taking 7 prisoners, 25 horses, and 3 mules. Turner's loss is one man, C.A. Fox, who wanders off into the darkness and is captured/1863
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Sergeant Shadburn of the "Iron Scouts" makes a reconnaissance ride to Grant's headquarters at City Point, Virginia/1864

SEPTEMBER 6

• Union troops take Paducah, Kentucky/1861
• After burning the OCMULGEE, the C.S.S. ALABAMA chases and overhauls a French ship bound for Marseilles, France. After telling the captain they are a United States ship, the ALABAMA bears away north and reaches the westernmost of the Azores--Flores Island--at nightfall/1862

SEPTEMBER 7

• [FIRST INVASION] Lee reaches Frederick City, Maryland/1862
• On the ALABAMA, it is Sunday muster (dress and inspection ceremony) off Flores. Captain Raphael Semmes reads the crew the Articles of War. Releasing and paroling the OCMULGEE's prisoners at Lagens on Flores, a sail is sighted and hoisting the English colors to throw him off his guard, the ALABAMA sails toward him. After a chase and a 32-pounder round shot between her masts only a few feet over the crew's heads, the STARLIGHT of Boston heaves to--a yankee schooner. Nightfall comes and Captain Semmes waits to release the prisoners in the morning/1862
• The yankees take Fort Wagener guarding Charleston Harbor/1863

SEPTEMBER 8

• Near Santa Cruz, Flores Island, the passengers of the STARLIGHT are paroled and put ashore. ALABAMA then overhauls a Portuguese whaling brig- -the only foreign whaler she overhauls during the entire cruise. In the afternoon, the ALABAMA shows the U.S. colors to a large whaling ship. Without the least suspicion of the ship of war, the OCEAN ROVER of New Bedford, Massachusetts runs right into the arms of the enemy, thinking that the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, had sent a gunboat to protect the whaling commerce from the "privateers" as he announced he would. That night, Captain Semmes paroles and releases the OCEAN ROVER's master and crew in lifeboats to head for Flores, four miles distant, after the master begs Captain Semmes to let him go. When he arrives several months later in a New England newspaper, he will claim that Captain Semmes barbarously ordered him ashore, likening him to pirate/1862
• General Robert E. Lee issues a proclamation to the people of Maryland to rise up and enjoy again the fruits of the inalienable rights of freemen/1862
• General Lee writes President Davis from his headquarters near Fredericktown, Maryland, that the time has come to propose peace and recognition of the independence of the Confederates States of America to the United States/1862 -federal John Dahlgreen's attacks on Fort Sumter are beaten off/1863

SEPTEMBER 9

• Southern belle Sally L. Tompkins is commissioned Captain in the Confederate Army because of her hospital for wounded soldiers at Richmond/1861
• At 1am, the ALABAMA off western island of the Azores, sights a whaler and gives chase. When day breaks, the Confederate Raider hoists the English Ensign. The other ship shows none which incriminates her at once. The ALABAMA showers the ship with a 32-pounder over the stern, and the Captain of the ALERT of New London orders the ship hove to. The officers and crew are paroled and sent ashore to Flores. Captain Semmes burns the ALERT, OCEAN ROVER, and the STARLIGHT. While these ships are still burning, the ALABAMA gives chase to another yankee ship. Semmes hoists the U.S. colors, and so does the whaler. Seeing the three funeral pyres behind their stranger, the captain smells a rat and wheels suddenly, but it is too late. The ALABAMA'S changing of colors and firing of a blank cartridge heaves to the WEATHERGUAGE of Provincetown, Mass. Leaving the ship with a prize crew at Corvo Island, the ALABAMA chases another sail which turns into an exciting chase all night/1862
• [INVASION OF KENTUCKY] Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn, in an effort to pull reinforcements off Bragg and Kirby Smith in Kentucky, attack the federals who are behind earthworks at Corinth and are beaten off with staggering losses/1862
• [FOURTH SESSION] The Fourth Session of the Convention of the People of South Carolina assembles at the Hall of the House of Representatives in Columbia/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] Robert E. Lee in a daring move splits his army and sends Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry/1862
• [CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN] federals move into Chattanooga as Bragg retreats into Georgia/1863

SEPTEMBER 10

• Rosecrans defeats J.B. Floyd at Carnifex Ferry, in western Virginia/1861 -Battle of Warrensburg, Missouri, won by the Southerners/1861
• A dear friend of Jefferson Davis, Albert Sidney Johnston is given the command of the Confederate Forces in the West/1861
• President Davis appoints Thomas H. Watts Attorney-General of the Confederacy/1861
• [FOURTH SESSION] Many resolutions offered at the Fourth Session of the Convention/1862
• After an all night chase proves to be a Danish ship, the ALABAMA arrives at Corvo Island where the officers and crew of the WEATHERGUAGE are put ashore and the ship burned/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] Jackson's corps, under Lee's orders, instead of taking Baltimore and Washington, recrosses the Potomac at Williamsport, 30 miles northwest of Frederick City, Maryland, site of Lee's bivouac. Jackson marches southwest into Jefferson County, western Virginia, toward the strongly fortified Harper's Ferry/1862
• yankee Steele seizes Little Rock, Arkansas, after T.H. Holmes evacuates this last Confederate stronghold in the state/1863
  
• sherman begins correspondence with U.S. Grant on future operations. sherman wants to "make Georgia howl"/1864
• Wheeler ends his cavalry raid on sherman's communications from Chattanooga to Nashville/1864

SEPTEMBER 11

• A little known cavalry colonel, James Ewell Brown Stuart, skirmishes with yankees at Lewinsville, Virginia, and drives the enemy from the scene/1861
• [FOURTH SESSION] Many more trivial resolutions offered at the Fourth Session of the South Carolina Convention of the People/1862
• The U.S.S. VANDERBILT, flagship under Captain Baldwin, leaves anchorage at Simon's Town to try to fall in with the ALABAMA. Thankfully, the ALABAMA is farther out from the Cape than usual/1863

SEPTEMBER 12

• A small Confederate force crosses to Cheat Mountain to attack Reynolds at a fortified position there, but rain all night renders their weapons useless and the attack is called off/1861
• After receiving a joint request from the governors of Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Arkansas for a competent general, adequate supplies, and a branch of the Treasury for the Trans-Mississippi Department, President Davis replies that he is sending Lt. General Theophilus Holmes, Richard Taylor, Thomas C. Hindman, Sterling Price, and the supplies requested/1862
• [FOURTH SESSION] In the Fourth Session of the Convention, many of the unimportant resolutions that have been offered are ordered for a later consideration/1862

SEPTEMBER 13

• [FOURTH SESSION] The Columbia Convention resolves to allow the Convention and Citizens see the Journal of the Executive Council/1862
• "Sail ho!" rings from the masthead, and the ALABAMA sends up the U.S. colors ruse, capturing without chase the ALTAMAHA of New Bedford, a whaler with little success of catching anything; therefore, she did not make as beautiful a bonfire as the others had. ALABAMA overhauls a Spanish ship in the evening/1862
  
• [FIRST INVASION] McClellan finds a lost copy of Lee's orders wrapped around a handful of cigars in a camp formerly occupied by D.H. Hill near Frederick, Maryland, revealing his plans to capture Washington and Baltimore and compel the north into a cessation of hostilities. Learning of the capture of the plans from a friendly citizen, Lee recalls Longstreet from Hagerstown, Maryland, D.H. Hill back to Turner's Gap, and Stuart to Crampton's Gap, 5 miles south, to defend against McClellan. Meanwhile, in western Virginia, T.J. Jackson soon after noon approaches Harper's Ferry. Stonewall's me line up northwest of, and facing Bolivar Heights, federal stronghold/1862
  

SEPTEMBER 14

• [FIRST INVASION] McClellan breaks through the South Mountain Passes at Crampton's Gap, forcing Lee to order a concentration at Sharpsburg, Maryland. A Frederick City citizen informs General Lee through Stuart that McClellan has possession of his plans to take Maryland. Meanwhile at Harper's Ferry, Va., Jackson fires on a blue battle line until 8pm/1862
• ALABAMA during the night chases and after two blank shots, the last of which spit forth from the 32-pounder, the BENJAMIN TUCKER of New Bedford heaves to/1862
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] U.S. Grant leaves Petersburg to confer with philip sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Hampton, playing while the cat's away, begins a cavalry raid on Coggin's Point, Virginia, on the James River where there is a giant herd of beef cattle intended for northern stomachs but on its way to fill the starving bellies of Southern Patriots at Petersburg/1864

SEPTEMBER 15

• After waiting three days for Reynolds to come out of his trenches, Lee withdraws to Valley Mountain/1861
• By 10am, the 30 man crew are on board the ALABAMA and the BENJAMIN TUCKER is on fire/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] Stonewall Jackson captures Harper's Ferry after surrounding the Arsenal and Bolivar Heights. Captured are 11,500 troops and 73 pieces of artillery. Learning of D. H. Hill's defeat at South Mountain, which Jackson's men heard going on the preceding day, Jackson moves out from Harper's Ferry toward Maryland/1862
• [FOURTH SESSION] The Convention agrees to dissolve itself December 17, at 12 noon if the President does not call a meeting before that time at which hour they make another date for dissolution/1862
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Wade Hampton crosses Rowanty Creek in the morning and reaches the Blackwater River by noon. After building a bridge the yankees had destroyed, the Patriots cross at nightfall, outflanking the whole union left, not even being sighted because all the federal signal stations are shut down. G.G. Meade is a very cautious man/1864

SEPTEMBER 16

• The Honourable Leroy P. Walker, Secretary of War, resigns because President Davis will not trust in his ability to give military orders/1861
• [FOURTH SESSION] The Convention debates about the Executive Council/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] McClellan is in position at Antietam Creek. Stonewall Jackson arrives at Shepherdstown, Maryland, before dawn after crossing the Potomac half a mile below that town. By the middle of the afternoon, Stonewall's troops arrive on the outskirts of Sharpsburg, four miles from the Potomac, and thus rejoins General Lee/1862
• After a few unprofitable weeks on the sea highway around the Cape of Good Hope, the impatient ALABAMA steams into Simon's Town where she learns that the Friday before, the U.S.S. VANDERBILT, a flagship under Captain Baldwin had left anchorage at Simon's Town and gone to cruise off the Cape to try to fall in with the ALABAMA/1863
• Tonight, Lieutenant Thomas Turner, in temporary command of Mosby's Rangers while Mosby's wounds heal, captures 4 sutler's wagons, 12 horses, and 2 mules at Fayetteville, Virginia, five miles from Warrenton/1863
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Between three and six a.m., Hampton attacks the First District of Columbia Calvary and wins. They then ride on to take the cattle at Coggin's Point and turn the two million pounds toward the Confederate works at Petersburg/1864

SEPTEMBER 17

• [FOURTH SESSION] The Convention extends its thanks to all South Carolina Soldiers and adjourns its session and the Convention of the People of South Carolina for the last time/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] McClellan attacks Lee, but Lee drives him off in the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Whole Late Unpleasantness. The Confederates bury the dead until midnight, and they get ready for more/1862
• The C.S.S. ALABAMA finds itself unwittingly close to a yankee schooner at daybreak and hoists the U.S. colors. The schooner sits still and at the Confederate Raider's changing of colors and firing of a gun, she captures the whaling schooner COURSER of Provincetown. A beautiful ship, Captain Semmes wants to spare her from the flames, but he remembers the "houseburners and pilferers inundating the South," and he executes the laws of War. But before he does, he uses her for target practice to drill his crew. The ALABAMA then returns to Flores to put his seventy collected prisoners ashore. Nightfall brings a big ship, the VIRGINIA, twenty days out of New Bedford, after a three and one-half hour chase. The VIRGINIA burned, the ALABAMA heads northwest/1862
• Rosencrantz concentrates his army at Chickamauga Creek, Georgia/1863
• [INVASION OF KENTUCKY] Braxton Bragg wins the Battle of Munfordville, Kentucky/1862
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Wade Hampton arrives outside Confederate-held Petersburg with his two million pound prize/1864

SEPTEMBER 18

• [SIEGE OF LEXINGTON] Patriots besiege the federal fort at Lexington, Missouri/1861
• After overhauling a French brig, west of the Azores, the Alabama chases down a yankee bark, the ELISHA DUNBAR of New Bedford, and burns her in a rough sea/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] federals bury their dead within the Confederate lines under a flag of truce. The Southrons stand ready at their guns, but there is no carnage/1862
• This day is designated by President Davis as a day of thanksgiving to God for Victories over the enemy/1862
• [FIRST INVASION] Lee begins to withdraw into Virginia/1862 -Longstreet begins to arrive at Chickamauga Creek from Virginia to reinforce Bragg/1863

SEPTEMBER 19

• Rosecrans to attacks Sterling Price at Iuka, Mississippi, which ends in a draw/1862
• At Chickamauga Creek, George H. Thomas on the federal left absorbs Confederate assaults/1863
• phillip sheridan defeats Early at Opequan or Winchester, Virginia. Confederate Major General Robert F. Rodes is killed/1864
• Sterling Price opens a Confederate raid on Missouri/1864 -sherman informs Thomas that he is going to stop chasing Hood and invade Southern Georgia/1864
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] Hampton victoriously returns to Petersburg driving the cattle down the streets which will feed the wilting Army of Northern Virginia/1864

SEPTEMBER 20

• A.P. Hill fights a rear-guard action at Blackford's Ford at Sheperdstown, Maryland, driving off Fitz Porter/1862
• Longstreet breaks the federal line on Snodgrass Hill, the Third Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers leading the charge. Thomas holds long enough for Rosencrantz' whipped army to limp back to Chattanooga/1863
• John Bell Hood moves from Lovejoy Station to Palmetto, twenty four miles southwest of Atlanta/1864

SEPTEMBER 21

• [SIEGE OF LEXINGTON] Sterling Price captures the whole force of 3500 men under Colonel James A. Mulligan who are besieged at Lexington, Missouri/1861
• Mosby, back in the saddle, starts on a raid on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. He halts tonight near Warrenton Junction/1863

SEPTEMBER 22

• [INVASION OF KENTUCKY] Bragg reaches Bardstown, Kentucky, abandoning his drive on Louisville/1862
• Mosby, beginning a raid on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, mounts near Warrenton and moves to less than two miles from Bealeton. Here Mosby halts to reconnoiter and observes a long train of pontoons moving toward the Rappahannock, each truck drawn by 8 mules, and too heavily guarded to attack. Knowing these pontoons are moving on Meade's army, and knowing their intention to attempt to cross the river, Mosby dispatches Sergeant Horace Johnson to General Lee with the information, and Mosby continues to Auburn, Virginia. Finding the Orange and Alexandria RR too heavily guarded to attack, Mosby abandons that line and strikes out through Fairfax. At Buckland, Mosby sends Lieut. Turner back to Fauquier with a larger portion of the command and 20 men are detailed to visit Fairfax. At the old Manassas battlefield, 30-odd federal cavalry are dispersed at Mosby's presence, and Mosby captures 9 prisoners and 12 horses. Near Burke's Station, Mosby captures the guard and 8 mules in full view of a gaping-mouthed infantry who make not the slightest effort to recapture them/1863
• sheridan defeats Early at Fisher's Hill, Virginia/1864

SEPTEMBER 23

• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] Bragg, for once in his career advancing, takes Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain to begin the Siege of Chattanooga/1863

SEPTEMBER 24

• J.E.B. Stuart is promoted to Brigadier General in the Confederate Army/1861
• Company G of the Fourth Texas Mounted Volunteers enters service in the Confederate Army as a company of lancers/1861
• lincoln orders the suspension of granting of the writ of habeas corpus for persons deemed disloyal (anyone speaking out against the lincoln administration)/1862
• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] Hooker with 15,000 men leave the Army of the Potomac to reinforce Rosecrans at Chattanooga/1863

SEPTEMBER 25

• The ALABAMA clears the Cape of Good Hope at 3am and heads into the Indian Ocean/1863
• President Davis journeys to Palmetto, Georgia, Hood's headquarters and Hood's plans to invade Tennessee are agreed upon by the President/1864

SEPTEMBER 26

• Lee in Western Virginia is positioned with exposed flanks in the rain and without tents opposite Rosecrans on Sewall Mountain, but under cover of night Rosencrantz withdraws/1861

SEPTEMBER 27

• Captain of the Confederate Raider ALABAMA, Admiral Raphael Semmes born, 1809
  
• Confederate Congress passes a bill to make conscription of all 18-45/1862
• On his Raid into Missouri, Sterling Price is defeated by T. Ewing at Pilot Knob or Ironton, Missouri/1864

SEPTEMBER 28

• Tonight, Mosby with 5 men, reconnoiters the Alexandria vicinity with the intention of capturing the bogus Governor Pierpont. Arriving at Pierpont's home near Alexandria, he finds Pierpont gone to Washington. Not wanting to come back empty-handed, Mosby proceeds to the home of Colonel Dulaney, aide to Governor Peirpont, capturing him, and several horses. French Dulaney, one of Colonel Dulaney's sons, is a member of the Rangers and aids in his father's capture. On the way home, Mosby burns the bridge over Cameron's Run and Four Mile Run/1863
• Hood crosses the Chattahoochee River to strike sherman's supply lines/1864 -sherman sends Thomas to Nashville to try to contain Nathan Bedford Forrest/1864

SEPTEMBER 29

• [INVASION OF KENTUCKY] Don Carlos Buell reaches Louisville, Kentucky/1862
• President Jefferson Davis in a speech at Macon, Georgia states that two- thirds of Hood's army is absent--sick, wounded, or deserted/1864
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] In an attempted advance on Richmond, Grant attacks at Peeble's Farm capturing Fort Harrison, but he is repulsed at Fort Gilmer at the Battle of New Market Heights or Laurel Hill, Virginia. At the same time, G.G. Meade moves northwest toward the Confederate earthworks along Squirrel Level Road. His eye is on the Southside Railroad/1864

SEPTEMBER 30

• French foreign minister Mercier says that the time has come for France to propose mediation to the United States and Confederate States/1862
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] federals hold Fort Harrison against a Confederate counterattack as fighting increases at Peeble's Farm/1864
• ALABAMA observes 39 degrees 12' S, 31 degrees 59' E with rough weather/1863
• [SIEGE OF PETERSBURG] G.K. Warren with 25,000 and A.P. Hill with 21,000 fight at Poplar Springs Church, Virginia/1864