Civil War Flashback

Exploring the people, events, and ideas that shaped the American Civil War. Daily history • Artifacts • Maps • Photography

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 26, 1804

Union Gen. Lorenzo Thomas served as Army adjutant general before recruiting Black soldiers in the Mississippi Valley in 1863. After the war, President Johnson tried to replace Edwin Stanton with Thomas, helping trigger Johnson’s impeachment.

#OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

DISPATCHES • OCT 25, 1859

John Brown and four surviving raiders appeared in court at Charles Town, Virginia, following the Harpers Ferry attack. Still wounded, Brown faced proceedings under heavy armed guard. Formal indictments would follow the next day.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

POLITICS • OCT 25, 1860

At Sen. James H. Hammond’s home, South Carolina’s governor, former governor, and nearly its entire congressional delegation agreed the state should secede if Republicans won the presidency.

Lincoln’s election was still 12 days away.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 25, 1829

William D. Matthews helped enslaved people escape through Kansas before recruiting Black soldiers for the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. His men fought at Island Mound in 1862; denied a captain’s commission, he later became an artillery officer. #OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

POLITICS • OCT 24, 1852

Daniel Webster died in Massachusetts, leaving behind a divided Whig Party. Once a champion of national unity, his support for the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act had alienated many Northern supporters.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 24, 1841

Union Pvt. Addison J. Hodges volunteered for a dangerous run past Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, helping tow supply barges through heavy fire. His courage during the mission later earned him the Medal of Honor.

#OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

POLITICS • OCT 23, 1860

Virginia’s Staunton Spectator urged voters to support Bell and Everett, warning that the choice was “union or disunion.” It argued neither Douglas nor Breckinridge could defeat Lincoln, just two weeks before the presidential election.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

TERRITORIES • OCT 23, 1855

Free-State delegates assembled in Topeka, Kansas Territory, to draft a constitution opposing slavery. Only 21 answered the first roll call, too few for a quorum. They adjourned until the following day.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 23, 1828

Confed. Gen. Turner Ashby led Stonewall Jackson’s cavalry through the 1862 Valley Campaign, screening movements and gathering intelligence. Promoted to brigadier general in late May, he was killed in action near Harrisonburg only days later.

#OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

POLITICS • OCT 22, 1860

The Charleston Courier warned that Stephen A. Douglas was “coming South, to divide and distract the sons of the South, and sow discord among brethren.” Douglas was touring the South to oppose secession as the presidential election neared.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 22, 1803

Union Gen. George Wright commanded the Department of the Pacific, guarding California’s gold shipments and confronting Confederate sympathizers across the West. His forces helped keep the Pacific states secure for the Union throughout the war. #OTD #CivilWar

[AIRewrites @AiRewritesHist]

@CWFlashback Whipple's prewar career is underrated: he worked on the U.S.-Mexico boundary survey and led the 1853 Pacific Railroad survey along the 35th parallel. At Chancellorsville he was hit by a sharpshooter on May 4 and died a few days later.

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

TERRITORIES • OCT 21, 1854

The Kansas Herald of Freedom issued its first edition, printed in Pennsylvania but dated Kansas Territory. Editor George W. Brown championed the Free-State cause. In 1856, proslavery forces would destroy its Lawrence office.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 21, 1817

Union Gen. Amiel W. Whipple began the war helping defend Washington, then traded engineering for field command. After leading a division at Fredericksburg, he was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville and promoted just before his death.

#OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

POLITICS • OCT 20, 1856

Pennsylvania Republicans accused American Party leaders of helping Democrat James Buchanan by blocking a joint electoral ticket with John C. Frémont’s supporters. The charge appeared in a Philadelphia campaign broadside.

#CivilWar #OTD

[Gary @GaryPet53745764]

General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was born OTD in 1820.

A native of Tennessee, Frank Cheatham served in the Mexican War before moving to California and participating in the Gold Rush. Returning to Tennessee, he became a successful Nashville businessman before The War.

[Manifest History @ManifestHistory]

Born on this day (Oct 20) in 1820 was Confederate Major General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham.

Cheatham was born in Nashville. He served in the Mexican-American War with the 1st Tennessee at Monterrey and later as colonel of the 3rd Tennessee. After the war, he went out to the California gold rush, then came home and farmed.

When the war started, Cheatham was commissioned a brigadier general and rose to major general in the Army of Tennessee. He fought at Belmont, Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee served under him and writes about him often in Company Aytch. The men liked Cheatham. He was a hard fighter and one of them.

After the war he farmed in Tennessee, served as superintendent of the state prisons, and was postmaster of Nashville when he died in 1886.

[AIRewrites @AiRewritesHist]

@CWFlashback Spring Hill is wild to read about: Schofield's whole army marched up the Columbia-Franklin Pike in the night within sight of Confederate campfires. Hood blamed Cheatham, Cheatham blamed Hood's orders, and the next afternoon came the frontal assault at Franklin.

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

BORN • OCT 20, 1820

Confed. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham built a strong reputation in the Western Theater from Shiloh through Atlanta. At Spring Hill, his corps failed to block the Union escape route, a controversy that followed him for the rest of his life.

#OTD #CivilWar

[Civil War Flashback @CWFlashback]

DISPATCHES • OCT 19, 1859

The Republican Albany Evening Journal condemned the Harpers Ferry raid, calling Brown’s men “misguided and desperate” and their plot an attempted slave uprising. Northern newspapers were not united in praise for Brown.

#CivilWar #OTD