The Northern Most

General Ewell

A little known part of the Gettysburg Campaign, the Skirmish of Sporting Hill took place June 30th 1863 near Hampden, Pennsylvania.


Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S Ewell led two divisions and a cavalry brigade into Pennsylvania in June 1863. He was moving on Harrisburg, Pennsylvania the state capital. As Ewell’s troops moved slowly north, Union Major General Darius N Couch sent troops to Camp Hill about two miles west of Harrisburg. Men hired by Couch erected fortification on the western side of Camp Hill.

Confederate Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins’ cavalry skirmished with the 22nd and 37th New York at Sporting Hill on June 30th 1863. The Confederate cavalry used the McCormick House for cover. The cavalry tried to cross the Carlisle Pike but were outflanked by Union soldiers. Union soldiers began firing on the McCormick barn with two cannons, smashing in the wooden building, and sending about 50 Confederate cavalry out to their horses. The soldiers withdrew toward Carlisle where they joined back up with Ewell’s troops for the march into Gettysburg.

A very good web site for more information about this battle is Gettysburg Campaign [Sporting Hill]

A Confederate Yankee

Confederate General Richard Griffith was mortally wounded at the Battle of Savage’s Station June 29th 1862 and died the same day.


Richard Griffith was born January 11th 1814 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and after graduating he moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Griffith served with the 1st Mississippi Rifles during the Mexican-American War, and it was then that he became friends with Jefferson Davis. Following the Mexican-American War he became a United States Marshal, and continued to be a member of the Mississippi state militia where he attained the rank of Brigadier General.

At the beginning of the Civil War Griffith became the Colonel of the 12th Mississippi Infantry. He received a promotion to Brigadier General in November 1861, and took command of a Mississippi brigade, a part Confederate Major General John B Magruder’s division in early 1862. It was during a part of the Seven Days Battles on June 29th 1862 that Griffith was mortally wounded. His men were chasing retreating Union soldiers on the Nine Mile road when they ran into some of Major General Edwin Vose Summer’s Union II Corps. Sumner’s men were guarding the Union retreat near Savage’s Station. Griffith was wounded in the thigh during artillery fire by a shell fragment. It is reported that upon being told that his wound was fatal, Griffith said, "If only I could have led my brigade through this battle, I would have died satisfied."

Griffith was moved to Richmond, Virginia where he died of his wounds June 29th 1862. He is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.

The End Of A Rail Raid

A part of the Wilson-Kautz Rail Raid, the Battle of Sappony Church took place on June 28th 1864.


Three rail lines supplied the Confederates at Petersburg, Virginia, the Richmond - Petersburg Railroad, the South Side Railroad, and the Weldon Railroad. Union General Ulysses S Grant on June 22nd 1864 sent a cavalry unit under the command of Brigadier Generals James H Wilson and August V Kautz to disrupt these rail lines. The raid would put 60 miles track out of use. The Union cavalry was hotly followed by Confederate Major General William HF Rooney Lee, he caught up with them at Staunton Bridge where the Confederate force attacked. Lee pursued the Union cavalry as they retreated toward Union lines.

The Union cavalry crossed the Nottoway River on June 28th 1864 at the Double Bridges, reaching Stony Creek Depot on the Weldon Railroad. There Confederate Major General Wade Hampton attacked the Union cavalry. While this was going on Lee’s cavalry joined in the attack. Kautz and Wilson disengaged and ordered a retreat to the north to the Halifax Road, try to reach Reams Railway Station.

The Right To Vote

The decision for Guinn v. United States was handed down June 21st 1915, settling the question of literacy tests for voting in Oklahoma.


Oklahoma became a state in 1907. In compliance with the United States Fifteenth Amendment, Oklahoma’s constitution allowed all men to vote with no regard to race. The Oklahoma legislator did place an amendment in its state constitution which required voters to pass a literacy test. There were exemptions from the literacy requirement. If the potential voter could show that his Grandfather had voted, been a soldier or been a citizen of a foreign nation before 1866, the voter wouldn’t have to pass the literacy test. This clause allowed illiterate whites to vote, but not illiterate blacks.

Oklahoma’s amendment started just before the election of November 1910. As election officers refused blacks the right to vote, the officers were convicted of violating the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The case was argued before the Supreme Court October 17th 1913, and was the first case in which the NAACP filed a brief. The Court handed down its decision June 21st 1915, in which it ruled "the grandfather clauses in the Maryland and Oklahoma constitutions to be repugnant to the Fifteenth Amendment and therefore null and void.” The decision had little impact on voters in Oklahoma, which passed a new law stating that, "all persons, except those who voted in 1914, who were qualified to vote in 1916 but who failed to register between April 30 and May 11, 1916, with some exceptions for sick and absent persons who were given an additional brief period to register, would be perpetually disenfranchised."

If your interested in reading the Courts findings they can be found at GUINN v. U.S., 238 U.S. 347 (1915) 238 U.S. 347 FRANK GUINN and J. J. Beal v. UNITED STATES. No. 96.

Brother, Brother-in-Law, Generals

Union Army General Charles Ewing and foster brother of William Tecumseh Sherman died June 20th 1893.


Charles Ewing was born March 6th 1835 the son of Thomas Ewing, the United States Interior Secretary. He received an education at the Dominican College and the University of Virginia, where he studied law. Ewing was practicing law in St Louis, Missouri when the Civil War broke out.

In 1861 Ewing received a commission in the 13th infantry as Captain under his brother-in-law William T Sherman. He was wounded at the Battle of Vicksburg while placing the company flag on the Confederate fort. He received brevets for his actions at Jackson, Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta campaign. Ewing was made Brigadier General of volunteers March 8th 1865.

After the end of the war Ewing resigned his commission in 1867 and returned to law, practicing in Washington, DC. In 1874 he served as the Catholic Commissioner for Indian Missions. He died in Washington, DC June 20th 1883.

Scalded To Death

The Battle of St Charles was fought as an infantry and naval battle on June 17th 1862.


The USS Conestoga, Lexington, Mound City, St Louis and several transport ships all under the command of Commodore Augustus Kilty headed up the White River in the early morning of June 17th 1862 towards St Charles, Arkansas. The mission was to resupply Union Major General Samuel R Curtis’s army. Below St Charles the 46th Indiana Infantry disembarked and proceeded up the river on foot toward the Confederate batteries under the command of Confederate Captain Joseph Fry. As these troops moved, the Union gunboats continued up the river where they engaged the Confederate batteries. The USS Mound City was hit and her steam drum blew up. More than 125 of the Mound City’s crew were scalded to death. Pulling off the gunboats, the 46th Indiana attacked the Confederate batteries, flanking them. This opened St Charles to Union occupation.

A good web site for more information is ST. CHARLES BATTLE SITE, ST. CHARLES, ARKANSAS COUNTY

A Speech That Stands

Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided Speech” June 16th 1858 in Springfield, Illinois.


Abraham Lincoln accepted the nomination of the Illinois Republican Party to run as their United States senator on June 16th 1858 in Springfield, Illinois. He gave his “House Divided Speech” as this acceptance. Lincoln would be campaigning for the Senate seat against Stephen A Douglas. The speech painted a clear picture of the coming disunion caused by slavery, and differentiated between Lincoln and Douglas who believed in popular sovereignty for the states.

Most people felt Lincoln’s speech was to radical. William H Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner believed he was taking the moral high ground but was politically flawed. Leonard Swett, another lawyer claimed the “House Divided Speech” caused Lincoln’s loss in the Senate campaign. Swett wrote to Herndon of the speech in 1866, saying “Nothing could have been more unfortunate or inappropriate; it was saying first the wrong thing, yet he saw it was an abstract truth, but standing by the speech would ultimately find him in the right place."

To read the whole speech check this web site a House Divided Speech