Thatcher’s Comet, the “Great Comet of 1861” A minor skirmish takes place today. In the Battle of Hoke’s Run, Union forces cross the Potomac River near Williamsport, Maryland and march toward nearby Confederate forces. The two sides encounter one another in Berkeley County, Virginia. Pushing the Confederates out of the area, Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s…
The Harris family of Virginia contributes two well-educated brothers to the Confederate cause. Today J. M. Harris graduates from the University of Virginia with a A.M. degree. Afterwards he joins his brother, Henry H., in serving in the Confederate Army. Henry (the older brother) graduated from the University of Virginia one year earlier, also with…
The Cherokee Nation is officially neutral regarding the American Civil War. Chief John Ross weeks earlier declared that Cherokees wished to “take no part in the present deplorable state of affairs” and hoped that “they should not be called upon to participate in the threatened fratricidal war….” Despite the Cherokee’s pledge of neutrality, Confederates immediately…