Muddy Roads Again

The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House was fought on March 31st 1865 as part of the Appomattox Campaign.

Major General Philip H Sheridan on March 29th 1865 with his Cavalry and the Second and Fifth Corps started a march to out flank General Robert E Lee’s defenses at Petersburg. Their advance was slowed by muddy roads.

On March 31st 1865 the Confederate Cavalry of Major General W H Fitzhugh Rooney Lee and Infantry of Major General George Pickett connected with the Union vanguard to the north of Dinwiddie Court House. Driving the Union troops back, they formed a tight line around the village. Union reinforcements coming from the east caused Pickett to withdraw his soldiers, and set up a new line at the junction of Five Forks, which Lee ordered him to hold at all cost.

Elba Arkansas

Union troops under Colonel Powell Clayton engaged a strong Confederate force on March 30th 1864 during the Battle of Elba in Arkansas.

A Union force under Colonel Powell Clayton left Pine Bluff, Arkansas March 27th 1864 planning to attack a Confederate force leaving Monticello at the time. The Union men consisted of the 18th Illinois, 28th Wisconsin, 1st Indiana Infantries, and the 5th Kansas, 7th Missouri Cavalries, with four howitzers and two cannon. This force of Union soldiers arrived in Mount Elba on the Saline River on the afternoon of March 28th 1864. They drove off some Confederate pickets in the area. Putting up a pontoon bridge they crossed the river. Clayton left the infantry to protect the bridge, and advanced with most of the cavalry south of Mount Elba.

The men left at the Saline River dug in on the north side. A scouting party sent out on the morning of March 30th 1864 toward Monticello returned to report a large party of Confederate cavalry headed their way. The Confederates under command of Brigadier General Thomas Dockery were held up by the 28th Wisconsin for two hours, giving the forces at the river time to prepare their defenses. With about 1,500 Confederate cavalry, Dockery was able to advance, driving the Wisconsin men before them. Shortly after Clayton returned and with his cavalry drove the Confederates out. The Union side lost 4 men killed or missing, the Confederates lost 135 men.

First Impeached Governor

Governor of North Carolina; William Woods Holden on March 22nd 1871 became the first US Governor to be impeached out of office.


William Woods Holden was born November 24th 1818 near present day Eno River State Park, Orange County North Carolina. When he was sixteen he began a apprenticeship with the owner of the Hillsborough Recorder a newspaper located in Hillsborough North Carolina. By 19 Holden was working for the Raleigh Star in Raleigh North Carolina as a printer and writer, and by 1843 he owned the North Carolina Standard. Holden began his political career in 1844 when he was elected the North Carolina House of Commons.

In 1861 Holden was sent by the voters of Wake County to vote against secession at the State Convention. He joined the others in voting to seccesed when President Abraham Lincoln called for North Carolina to raise troops for the Union. Holden was a member of the North Carolina peace movement and was outspoken against the government of the Confederacy.

Holden was appointed Provisional Governor of North Carolina by President Andrew Johnson in 1865. He would be elected as a Republican to the job from 1868 to 1871. Holden hired detectives and requested military aid in 1869-70 to try to fight the Ku Klux Klan, taking a stand that most other southern governments ignored. In 1870 when the Democratic Party regained majority in North Carolina, Holden was brought up on impeachment charges around the Klan activity. He would become the first Governor in United State History to be removed from office through impeachment on March 22nd 1871.

Holden moved to Washington DC following the impeachment and became the editor of the National Republican. He would latter move back to Raleigh North Carolina and work as Post Master there. Holden died March 1st 1892.

Another web site about the subject that may of interest
William Woods Holden, 24 Nov. 1818-2 Nov. 1892

Oldest Officer

Union General Edwin Vose Sumner died March 21st 1863, he was the oldest field commander on either side during the Civil War.

Edwin Vose Sumner was born January 30th 1797 in Boston, Massachusetts the son of Elisha and Nancy [Vose] Sumner. He got his education at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts. After trying a career in retail in Tory, New York in 1819 he entered the United States Army. By January 25th 1825 he had been promoted to First Lieutenant.

Sumner served in the Black Hawk War and other Indian campaigns. In 1833 he was promoted again to Captain in command of Company B of the First United States Dragoons. In 1838 Sumner was instructing cavalry at the Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During the Mexican American War received two brevet for bravery to the rank of Colonel. He would serve as the Military Governor of the New Mexico Territory from 1851 to 1853. Sumner was at Fort Leavenworth Kansas in 1856 during the time known as “Bleeding Kansas”. He was assigned by Lieutenant General Winfield Scott to accompany Abraham Lincoln in March 1861 from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, DC.

Sumner spent the first year of the Civil War as the commander of the Department of the Pacific in California, having been sent there to replace Albert Sidney Johnston. So Sumner saw no action in 1861. He was brought back east and on May 5th 1862 promoted to Major General and given command of one of the new Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He lead the II Corp through out the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. After Major General Joseph Hooker was placed in command of the Army, Sumner was relieved at his own request and appointed to command the Department of Missouri.

Taking advantage of time off, he traveled to Syracuse, New York to visit with a daughter. While there Sumner had heart attacked and died March 21st 1863. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York in the Teall family plot.

Encircling The Union Position

In Rutherford County Tennessee on March 20th 1863 the Battle of Vaught’s Hill was fought.


The Battle of Vaught’s Hill, or the Battle of Milton as it is also known occurred in Rutherford County Tennessee on March 20th 1863. Following the Battle of Stones River while things were quite, Union Colonel Albert S Hall lead a reconnaissance from Murfreesboro on March 18th of about 1,300 men. Going out to the northeast Hall’s troops ran into Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan, with about 3,500 soldiers. Hall’s Union soldiers fell back to the east of Milton Tennessee. Morgan’s cavalry gave chase and caught up with the Union troops on the morning of March 20th 1863 at Vaught’s Hill.

Morgan attacked both of Hall’s flanks, at time encircling the Union position. Hall set up perimeter defense and held off Morgan’s men until after 4:30 pm. At that time Morgan broke off the fight, hearing that Union reinforcements were on their way from Murfreesboro Tennessee.

Slowing The Union Up

The Battle of Averasborough in North Carolina was fought on March 16th 1865.

Part of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army in South Carolina, the left wing under the command of General Henry W Slocum and the right wing under Oliver Otis Howard marched with an objective of Goldsborough, North Carolinia. Howard marched toward Goldsborough while Slocum’s wing affected a march toward Raleigh in order to draw the Confederates.

Confederate General Joseph E Johnston attacked Slocum’s wing. Johnston sent General William J Hardee’s corps to slow Slocum up. On March 16th 1865 to two forces ran into each other in the town of Averasborough. Sherman who was traveling with Slocum’s wing ordered an attack on Hardee’s right and front. Although initially routing the Confederates, somehow Hardee’s men drew up and formed a defensive line in about a mile. The Confederates held this spot, holding off the Union’s repeated attacks until after dark. Hardee withdrew during the night having succeeded in delaying Slocum’s movements. The Union forces lost only 182 to the Confederates 865 casualties.

First To Independence, First To Secede

On March 15th 1776 South Carolina declared it’s independence from England.

The colony of South Carolina declared its independence from England on March 15th 1776. It was the first American colony to set up it’s own government. In order to get South Carolina’s support, Thomas Jefferson removed any mention of criticism of slavery from the Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution found many slaves fighting for England and the promise of freedom. An estimated 25,000 slaves fled or died during the war, about thirty percent of whom were from South Carolina.

South Carolina was also the first state to vote to secede from the United States on December 20th 1860. The opening shots of the Civil War were fired in South Carolina at Fort Sumter.