The Two Armys Met

Union Major General George B McClellan on September 16th 1862 the Army of the Potomac met up at Sharpsburg Maryland with Confederate General Robert E Lee‘s Army of Northern Virginia. The next morning on September 17th 1862 Union General Joseph Hooker mounted an assault on the Confederate left flank setting off the bloodiest day in American military history.

Death's Of Two General

Fox’s Gap, one part of three battles known collectively as the Battle of South Mountain were fought on September 14th 1862.

The Battle of Fox Gap was one of the three battle fought on September 14th 1862, known as the Battle of South Mountain. Major General George B McClellan’s Army of the Potomac needed the passes in order to pursue General Robert E Lee’s Confederate Army of the Northern Virginia. Confederate General A P Hill’s division defended Fox Gap against Brigadier General Jacob D Cox. Cox’s Kanawha Division attack at 9am and secured south side of the gap. The Union troops pushed through the North Carolina troops at the crest of the gap, but were exhausted when they got there, and the failed to drive the Confederates out. Major General Jesse Reno sent in more Union troops, but they were unable to dislodge the Confederates due to Brigadier General John Bell Hood’s reinforcements.

At the end of the day, with Crampton’s Gap lost to the Confederates and Fox’s and Turner’s Gap sketchy at best, Lee ordered a withdrawal from the area. Confederate Brigadier General Samuel Garland Jr and Union Major General Jesse Reno were both killed in nearly the same spot at Fox’s Gap, with in hours of eachother. With Confederates broke up, McClellan could have closed in but instead gave Lee time pull his divisions together in time for the coming battle of Antietam.

Another good web site
The Battle of South Mountain Fox's Gap

Laughing At A Union Funeral

Eugenia Levy Phillips was released from Ship Island Mississippi on September 11th 1862, where she was held for laughing during a Union soldier’s funeral in New Orleans.

Eugenia Levy Phillips was born to a prominent Jewish family in 1819 in Charleston South Carolina. After marring Philip Phillips they moved to Mobile Alabama, where her husband an attorney became a US Congressman in 1853. After his first term was up the family stayed in Washington DC where he practiced law. Unbeknownst to her husband who was against secession, Eugenia’s loyalty lie with the south and she was suspected to be working for Rose O'Neal Greenhow’s spy ring. In August 1861 the whole Phillips house hold was placed under arrest for spying. With help from friends the family including Edwin M Stanton the family were released and moved south, first to Richmond and then onto New Orleans Louisiana.

New Orleans at this time was occupied by General Benjamin Butler and his Union troops. It was here that she ran into trouble by laughing out loud at a Union funeral procession, which was in violation of Butler’s Women’s Order which read, “As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered, that hereafter, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.” General Butler had her arrested and placed on Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico on June 30th 1862, where she was held until September 11th 1862. By the time her husband was able to gain her release Eugenia was quite ill with fever.

Eugenia Levy Philips died at the age of 82 in 1902 while living in Georgia.

Another place for more information
Journal of Mrs. Eugenia Levy Phillips, 1861-1862

Drove They Out Of Western Virginia

As part of the campaign in Western Virginia, on September 10th 1861 the Battle of Carnifex Ferry in Nicholas County Virginia [now WV] took place.

Confederate Brigadier General John B Floyd and his troops; after routing the 7th Ohio in early September 1861 set up a camp near Carnifex Ferry. They began building entrenchments near Summersville VA on the rim of the Gauley River Canyon on the farm of Henry Patterson. Union Brigadier General William S Rosecrans moved three brigades of infantry south from Clarksburg VA into position on the afternoon of September 10th 1861. They advanced on the Confederate’s position.

The battle carried on through the day only ending when darkness came. The strong Union artillery held the day, causing General Floyd to pull his troops back, crossing to the south side of the Gauley River. The Confederates than moved on eastward toward Lewisburg VA.

The Union victory at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry helped drive the Confederates out of western Virginia and would eventually lead to the creation of the state of West Virginia.

Other information about the battle
The Battle of Carnifex Ferry The West Virginia Review November 1931

She Became a Union Soldier

Sarah Emma Edmonds who while serving as a Union Civil War soldier was known as Franklin Flint Thompson died on September 5th 1898.

Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in New Brunswick, Canada in December 1841. She left a verbally and physically abusive home when her parents tried to force her to marry. Edmonds worked selling Bibles around New Brunswick and New England, before working her way west and settling in Flint Michigan.

With the coming of the Civil War she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Infantry. She became Franklin Flint Thompson. Her first service was as a male nurse, where she saw duty under George B McClellan at the battles of First Bull Run, Antietam, and others. She would as Thompson become a Union spy. Edmunds / Thompson used several disguises to travel behind Confederate lines including dying her skin black to pose as a black man, and as an Irish peddler woman. Her career as the soldier Frank Thompson came to end when she developed a case of malaria. Edmonds left the army and went to a private hospital for treatment. Once she recovered she found that Frank Thompson was listed as a deserter. Instead of taking the chance of being shot as deserter Edmonds spent the rest of war working as a nurse in Washington DC for the United States Christian Commission.

The publisher DeWolfe, Fiske and Co of Boston MA published “The Female Spy of the Union Army” in 1864, an account of Edmond’s military experiences. A year latter the it was reprinted in Hartford CT under the title, “Nurse and Spy in the Union Army”, it sold over 175,000 copies.

Edmonds married a Canadian mechanic, L H Seelve in 1867. She began to petition the US goverment for a pension in 1882 and was finally granted one in 1884 under her married name Sarah E E Seelye. She received a government pension for $12 a month for her service in the Union Army. Edmonds died September 5th 1898 in La Porte Texas and is buried in the Washington Cemetery in Houston Texas.

Killed Trying To Escape Again

General John Hunt Morgan was killed in on the 4th of September 1864 while trying to escape Union troops. Morgan was born Jun 1, 1825 in Huntsville, AL to Calvin Morgan, the oldest in a family of ten. In 1831 the family moved to Lexington, KY.

Morgan began his military career in 1846 when he enlisted in the Army as a cavalry private during the Mexican-American War. At the beginning of the Civil War he raised the 2nd KY Cavalry Regiment, and was made their Colonel. Morgan and his men were present at the Battle of Shiloh. He was promoted to Brigadier General on Dec 11, 1862 following his great sweep through Kentucky, where he captured 1200 Federal soldiers.

Gen Morgan led his troops in an effort to distract Union forces on what is known as “The Great Raid of 1863” or the “Calico Raid”. The force raided through southern Indiana and Ohio, farther north than any other Rebel force would advance during the war. It came to an end for him when about 700 of his men were captured trying to cross the Ohio River on July 19th 1863. He lasted a bit longer before having to give up near Salineville, OH on the 26th, but the Federals didn’t keep the intrepid John Morgan long. In Nov he and six of his officers dug their way out of their cells, and than ascended a wall using bed sheets.

He was killed during a Union raid on Greeneville, TN September 4th 1864, shot in the back by an ex-Confederate soldier. Many believed he was murdered so that he wouldn’t escape from Union prison a second time, but it seems more likely that he was shot simply because he refused to halt.

The War In The West

While the war was being fought in the East, there was another war beginning in the West; the Indian Wars which would continue for the next 3 decades.

On September 3rd 1863 the Battle of White Stone Hill took place. White Stone Hill is located about 23 miles southeast of Kulm, Dickey Co, ND. The Sioux Chief Inkpaduta and US Commander Brigadier General Alfred Sully were the two principal leaders, in the battle. Gen Sully entered the Dakota Territory as part of a military mission to punish those Native Americans who were believed to be involved in the 1862 Indian uprisings in Minnesota. The 6th Iowa Cavalry led by Col Albert House, came on a camp of Yankton, Dakota, Hunkpapa, and Sihasapa Lakota Sioux containing about 400 lodges, at about 3 pm on the afternoon of September 3rd 1863. They informed Gen Sully who brought up his men and surrounded the camp. A battle broke out, with the Sioux eventually being overwhelmed. There were about 750 Indian casualties mostly women and children, and 72 US Soldiers. Sully’s men completely destroyed the camp, probably causing many more deaths during the long winter that followed.