South of Union-controlled Chattanooga, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, seeking to regain ground from the federals, engages Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’ Union forces. Thus begins the Battle of Chickamauga. Although Union lines successfully hold today in the face of a heavy assault, the morrow brings reinforcements from the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of…
Mississippi Baptist minister Mark P. Lowrey organizes the 32nd Mississippi regiment in north Mississippi and is elected Colonel of the regiment. This represents his second, and an unanticipated, stint of Confederate service. An excerpt from Lowrey’s autobiography speaks of his joining the army for the second time, as well as the days following: I had…
The year draws to a close with some encouraging news for the United States: the coastal city of Biloxi, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces hours before the calendar turns. The success on the Mississippi coast caps a string of coastal victories for the United States Navy during 1861. So successful has the U.S. Navy been…