This Date in History

[dawg80]

Got behind...been out of town.

March 31 Union army enters Natchitoches
April 2 Battle of Crump's Corner (Marthaville today). A cavalry fight, Union lost 70, Confederates 35. Union cavalry retreats back to Natchitoches.
April 3 Union forces seize Port of Grand Ecore. Union Navy had tried to take the port but failed. Army units hit the Confederates from the land side chasing them away.
April 4 Union cavalry, 5,000-troopers, under the command of General Albert Lee (no relation to Robert E. Lee) strike west again, this time seizing the road junction of Crump's Corner.

[dawg80]

1864

April 6 Main body of Union army departs Natchitoches using the western route. Could have used the eastern approach, crossing the Red River at Grand Ecore, up through Grappe's Bluff (Campti), Coushatta Chute (today just Coushatta), on to Germantown (Minden), then turning west to attack Shreveport. The western route passed through Shamrock (Robeline), Crump's Corner (Marthaville), Pleasant Hill, Mansfield and then the Yanks would have had access to three good roads to attack Shreveport from the south and west. Roads through Keithville, Kingston, and Keachi. Which is exactly why Confederate commander, Major General Richard Taylor, aimed to fight below Mansfield with the huge Union army confined to a single, narrow road. Taylor's small army would be the cork in the bottle.

A "Howling Wilderness" is how one Iowa soldier documented the rolling hills of northwest Louisiana. He wrote in his diary, "...nothing but thick woods and strange creatures about. We see glowing eyes staring at us." What they didn't see, much to their pleasant surprise, were Confederates. Taylor had pulled back all but his scouts and now waited up the road at Mansfield. The Yanks also didn't see any fresh drinking water. Taylor's army had filled their canteens and drained the cisterns. Union cavalry cautiously entered the small town of Pleasant Hill, and reported back, there was no water to be had.

The Union army was large and stretched for 22 miles end to end. The order of the march was

Cavalry division in the vanguard, followed by their supply wagons.
Two divisions of the 13th Corps Infantry, followed by their supply wagons
One division of the 19th Corps Infantry, supply wagons
Two divisions of the 16th Corps, supply wagons.

This was NOT an order of march for an army operating in enemy territory. But Union commander Major General Nathanial Banks was convinced they would see no action until they reached Shreveport and he planned "to get up" his army into proper marching formation utilizing the three roads above Mansfield.

General Richard Taylor had other ideas...

[FriscoDog]

The Battle of Shiloh.



In Hebrew, Shiloh is a word that means "Place of Peace." On April 6-7, 1862, the woods and fields around the small wooden church that bared the name were anything but peaceful. The Confederate Army of Mississippi, General Albert S. Johnston commanding, locked horns with Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union Army of the Tennessee - a force of roughly equal size. These 80,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fell in numbers that had never been seen before on the American continent.

Initially, Johnston's forces were in complete control of the battlefield as they achieved near complete surprise over the Union army - whose soldiers were mostly caught napping quite literally inside of their tents. The Union lines quickly were able to form a front of several miles and fought doggedly against their attackers, who slowly pushed the northerners back toward the Tennessee River.

On the Union right, a division of infantry under the command of a then-unknown William T. Sherman not only was able to mount a spirited resistance to the Confederate onslaught, but even managed to launch a counterattack that achieved fleeting success before the weight of Confederate numbers began to force them back. At the height of the fighting here, Sherman had several close encounters with death that included having multiple horses shot out from under him as well as his aide having his head blown off by a musket ball while engaged in conversation with him.

By late morning the Union defensive line was beginning to come apart and thousands of frightened Federals began streaming for the safety of the rear. Only the division of Benjamin Prentiss, holding firm in the center, kept the Confederate tide at bay. Taking position along a sunken road amidst the Tennessee timber, these Yankee soldiers fought off numerous Confederate attacks. The bullets flew so thick that this area would be forever remembered by the attacking Confederates as the Hornet's Nest.

Confederate General Johnston ordered massed artillery to the area around the Hornet's Nest to soften up the Union position before attacking again. In the largest artillery barrage in American history up to that time, some 50 Confederate cannon blasted the Hornet's Nest. Johnston decided he would lead the subsequent infantry assault on Prentiss and his Union defenders. While riding on his horse, a bullet clipped the artery behind his knee. Unable to feel the wound due to nerve damage in his right leg, the Confederate general bled out until he collapsed off of his horse from blood loss. He went into shock and subsequently died.

Albert Sidney Johnston was the highest ranking officer to die in the American Civil War.

P.G.T Beauregard took over command of the Confederate army and continued to order assaults against the Hornet's Nest. By this time, the Union divisions that had been stationed on the left and right of Prentiss had been forced back, allowing Confederates to cut off and surround the Union defenders. Prentiss and his division were forced to surrender but their defense had given the Union army valuable time.

Ulysses S. Grant had arrived at Pittsburg Landing on the banks of the Tennessee River to find his army in disarray. Tales of disaster confronted him everywhere he went. Rather than panicking, however, the general from Galena, Illinois quickly took control of the situation. Rallying soldiers, riding up and down the front lines trying to steady his men, Grant began to form a new defensive line backed by Union gunboats on the river. By the late afternoon hours of April 6, reinforcements from Major General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio began to arrive on the opposite side of the river and were being ferried across to join in Grant's now nearly impregnable defensive line.

Beauregard ordered limited assaults against the position but called them off due to the gathering darkness. The Confederates pulled back to the site of the Union encampments with the intention of attacking the next day to finish the job.

That night, a violent rain storm wreaked havoc on the battlefield. The sounds of thunder were punctuated by the sounds of the gun boats bombarding Confederate positions from the river. The noise couldn't quite drown out the sounds of the tens of thousands of Union and Confederate wounded moaning and crying for help in the darkness.

Grant had taken shelter from the rain in a wooden shack that had been converted into a Union hospital. The sight and sounds of the wounded, however, drove him near to sickness and thus he left to sleep in the mud with his men. Many of Grant's subordinates favored cutting their losses and retreating back across the river. None of them, however, were brave enough to broach the subject to Grant. So Sherman was enlisted by the Union high command to offer their commanding officer this advice.

Sherman found Grant sitting in the mud, his back against a tree, hat slouched low over his face, a cigar in his mouth. The sight no doubt gave Sherman renewed confidence in a man who was fast becoming his best friend. Walking over to Grant, Sherman looked down at the senior commander and said: "Well Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we."

Grant looked up. And with a puff on his cigar, which lit up his determined face in the darkness, Grant replied: "Yep. Lick 'em tomorrow though."

Thus was the first day of the bloody battle of Shiloh - April 6, 1862. 160 years ago today.

[dawg80]

The 58th Illinois was part of Yankee stand in the evening of the first day at Shiloh...became known as the "Hornet's Nest" the minie-balls were flying so heavy it sounded like buzzing hornets. The 58th Ill stubbornly held on and eventually were captured. Two years later, in 1864, they had been exchanged and rejoined the Union army, 1st Division, 16th Corps, they would figure prominently at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864, their first action since Shiloh.

[dawg80]

April 7

Because there was no water to be found at Pleasant Hill, Union cavalry was ordered to advance up the road and secure Ten Mile Bayou which is a spring-fed creek with good drinking water. It is called that because it lies exactly halfway between Pleasant Hill and Mansfield which are 20 miles apart. At first light General Albert Lee cautiously led 2 of his 4 brigades forward. He paused only a mile up the road at Jordan's Farm while his men checked the well and some were able to fill canteens. They pushed on two more miles to Wilson's Farm and received a warm welcome. Confederate cavalry, dismounted, ambushed the Yankees and a hot fight erupted.

Confederate cavalry commander General Tom Green was personally in charge of 5 regiments from Texas and the 7th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment. The Yanks called for reinforcements and pulled back, during the lull Green retired and moved up the narrow Stage Road to Brushy Bayou which is a 1/2 mile below Ten Mile Bayou. There Green had 3 more regiments waiting, called the "Arizona Brigade" under Colonel George Baylor, they actually hailed from Texas as well. Later in the afternoon a sharp fight broke out in the thick woods and Pin Oak flats at Brushy Bayou. It was a jungle and the Yanks found it nearly impossible to advance through the tangle of briars and bushes. Night fell and the Confederates still held the important water source.

[dawg80]

April 8 The Battle of Mansfield aka The Battle of Sabine Crossroads

During the night of the 7th General Tom Green pulled his regiments back, placing a two-gun artillery battery on a ridge covering the Stage Road (Hwy 175 today), and kept his men mounted for rapid movement at first light. The Yanks were also busy, General Albert Lee requested, and subsequently received, infantry support as the 13th Corps Infantry moved in front of the cavalry's division supply train. The Yank cavalry cautiously moved forward and were elated to learn the Confederates were gone, they rushed to Ten Mile Bayou and plunged in filling their empty canteens.

Meanwhile up in Mansfield, General Richard Taylor issued orders to his infantry commanders, make ready for a rapid march...south! No more retreating! Taylor had scouted the Moss Plantation where also a ridge of high ground, Honeycutt Hill, cut a diagonal across the road. Taylor, however, had a unique idea, he would NOT occupy the hill, rather establish a defensive line in the dense woods north of the open fields of the plantation, another bottleneck along the road.

Green's troopers sparred with the Yankees. A running battle began and rolled across Chapman's Bayou, onto the Chapman Farm, with a peach orchard, passed a small church, Shiloh Church, with Green slowly, purposefully retiring to draw the Yanks forward...into Taylor's trap. General Albert Lee reported back to General Banks he was "winning" and when he occupied the vacant hill thought the Confederates were gone! He was wrong. Lee's cavalry and the 13th Corps Infantry took up positions on the Moss Plantation. The long line of supply wagons were stacked, single-filed, on the narrow road, behind them was the rest of Union army. Taylor saw before him about 4,000 Union cavalry and 3,800 Union infantry, isolated from support. Although he had just barely 9.000 men total with him...reinforcements were enroute but would not reach him in time, Taylor decided now was the time. At 4PM General Alfred Mouton led his division forward, the Louisiana Brigade was first out of the woods, in echelon the Texas Brigade under Frenchman General Camille Polignac, whom the Texans called General Polecat, advanced. Then General John Walker's Veteran Texas Division stepped off. The fighting was brutal!

Phase 1 was a crushing Confederate victory, Lee's cavalry and the 13th Corps infantry were smashed. Another division of the 13th Corps managed to get around the parked supply wagons and took up a position at the Sabine Crossroads, a mile below Moss Plantation, but soon both flanks were turned and they too were forced to retreat(Phase 2 5PM). The 1st Division of the 19th Corps dug in on the ridge overlooking Chapman's Bayou and waited. About 6PM Taylor's hard-charging Confederates reached them and close up fighting ensued(Phase 3). Darkness would finally put an end to the battle. Taylor lost 1,000 men, including General Mouton and every field grade officer of the Louisiana Brigade, but the Yanks suffered far worse. Losses were 3,200 killed, and most of the survivors wounded or captured. It was a crushing, one-sided fight, a huge win for Taylor's small Confederate army.

During the night, the beaten Union army retired 15 miles back to Pleasant Hill and waited for the next day...

[dawg80]

April 9, 1864 The Battle of Pleasant Hill. The largest battle of the "Civil War" fought west of the Mississippi River.

During the night Union stragglers drifted back into camp at Pleasant Hill. General Banks convened an officers' meeting to discuss the situation, the consensus was to dig in there with the troops of the 19th and 16th Corps, and send the remnants of the cavalry division and the 13th Corps, and the bulk of the supply wagons back to Natchitoches and Grand Ecore. Banks retained 12,000 troops, which included the best he had, the 16th Corps, under the able command of General A.J. Smith.

General Taylor was surprised the Yanks were no longer in his front, he sent his cavalry forward and they gobbled up more prisoners, Union walking wounded left abandoned by the retreating Yankees. General Tom Green reached the outskirts of P. Hill and had a brief fight with Union infantry hidden in the woods. He reported back, he had found the main body of the Union army. Taylor ordered all units, including the shattered Louisiana Brigade, to march south. Taylor would set up his HQ on the Jordan Farm, one mile above P. Hill. Reinforcements, General Churchill's corps, a division from Missouri and one from Arkansas, close to 5,000 fresh troops were on their way. But, they would have to come 27 miles that day to reach P. Hill. They arrived around 3:00 and Taylor ordered them into the line of battle, but agreed to allow them a one hour rest. Taylor had 12,500 soldiers and the combined 24,500 combatants made it the biggest fight in the western theater.(west of the Miss River)

The terrain around P. Hill was thickly wooded and hilly, cut by deep ravines. There would be very little cavalry and artillery employed, this would be an infantry fight, close up and brutal. It even included a rare occurrence, opposing infantry charging each other with a bayonet charge. General Churchill was supposed to flank the Yanks on the Confederate right, General John Major led dismounted Confederate cavalry to turn the Union right and capture the Blair's Landing Road, and straight up the gut, down the middle would be General John Walker's Veteran Texas Division. The battered Louisiana Division, now under the command of General Polignac ("Polecat") was held in reserve. An isolated Union brigade under Brigadier General Shaw was completely surrounded by Walker's Texans and hand to hand fighting took place. Churchill didn't know the country very well and centered on the wrong road. He did smash the Union brigade of New York troops under Colonel Benedict but was himself now exposed on his right flank. Hidden in the woods was General A.J. Smith's crack 16th Corps. These men were veterans of Shiloh and Vicksburg and had known nothing but victory after victory. The 58th Illinois Regiment had spent two years as POWs and just returned to active duty after being exchanged...they were spoiling for a fight. The 58th Ill sprang out of the woods and threw themselves on the nearest Confederates, a brigade in the Missouri division of Churchill's Corps. The rest of Smith's "Gorillas" as they proudly referred to themselves advanced from the woods and a sharp fight ensued. Walker's Texans who had been advancing toward the town of P. Hill switched their line of advance to render assistance to Churchill who was being rolled up by the 16th Corps. Taylor watched and saw his plan of attack unraveling, so he ordered the Louisiana Division forward. They swept the remnants of Shaw's Union brigade out of the woods and then slammed into another hidden brigade, this one of the 19th Corps in a ravine. The out-numbered Louisiana troops were stymied and were forced to seek cover and exchange musket fire with the Yanks. It dissolved into a melee of charges and counter-charges with neither side gaining an advantage. Confederate dismounted cavalry did capture and hold the Blair's Landing Road but that was the only true success Taylor would enjoy. The battle raged well past dark with the soldiers firing toward the visible muzzle blast of their enemy. Around 10:00 that night the battle finally ended. It had been a continuous fight for 6 hours.

Taylor ordered a withdrawal back to his original lines centered on the Jordan Farm. General Churchill met with Taylor and apologized for his failure to properly flank the Yanks. Taylor assured him it was not his fault and he and his corps had fought valiantly. The exhausted men of Missouri and Arkansas then marched 9 miles back to Ten Mile Bayou to fill empty canteens. In a little over 30 hours they had marched close to 40 miles and fought a major battle. General Banks was beaten, both on the field and in his mind. Against the protests of General A. J. Smith he ordered the entire army to retire back to Natchitoches and Grand Ecore.

The Battle of Pleasant Hill is considered to be a tactical draw, a tough fight where each side lost another 1,600+ men. But when the Yanks retreated, it became a strategic victory for the South.

[FriscoDog]

A year later for you D80...

General Robert E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant on this date in 1865 at Appomattox VA.


April 9, 1865. A stillness at Appomattox.

Ever since the Union army had punched through his defenses around Petersburg on April 2, Lee and the remnants of his once proud Army of Northern Virginia had been on the run. The Gray Fox had been operating on a forlorn hope that his army could retreat to the west, board trains at some railroad junction, and then link up with Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina to continue the fight.

Richmond, the Confederate capital, fell to Union forces on April 3 but Grant did not waste any time celebrating the historic moment. His objective was to catch up with Lee and to cut off his retreat. Union cavalry harassed the rear of Lee's column, inflicting damage and slowing up the march. The black day of the Confederate army came on April 6 when Sheridan's cavalry, the 2nd Corps, and 6th Corps caught up with the rear of the Confederate column at Sailor's Creek, near the hamlet of Farmville, Virginia.

The battle was a disaster for the Confederacy, with nearly 8,000 Confederates being casualties of war (most of them captured). Confederate Lt. General Richard S. Ewell was among those Confederates taken prisoner. When Lee had learned of the extent of the disaster that had taken place on the 6th, he exclaimed to Major General William Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?"

On April 7, Grant began open correspondence with Lee, suggesting that it was time to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee, however, did not see it that way and refused this request as he still believed escape to the Carolina's to be feasible. First Lee needed to resupply his army and supplies waited for him at Appomattox Station. On the 8th, however, Union forces finally overtook the Army of Northern Virginia.

A cavalry force under the command of Major General George Armstrong Custer arrived at Appomattox ahead of the Confederates and put the supplies waiting for the Army of Northern Virginia to the torch. Lee's last hope for resupply and escape was the city of Lynchburg. All that stood between him and freedom was a force of Federal cavalry. As such, he once again refused a request by Grant to surrender the night of April 8. However, he did add a caveat to his reply, telling Grant that he was willing to discuss how Grant's terms of surrender would affect the Confederacy.

The Union's 24th Corps under the command of Major General John Gibbon marched 30 miles in 21 hours to reinforce the cavalry that stood between Lee and Lynchburg. The 5th Corps followed close behind, as did three divisions of cavalry under the command of Major General Phil Sheridan. These divisions deployed on a ridge overlooking Appomattox on the morning of April 9.

The battle began at dawn when the Confederate 2nd Corps under Major General John B. Gordon attacked Sheridan's cavalry divisions and quickly brushed them aside. When they took the crest of the ridge, however, they were appalled to find the entire Union 5th and 24th Corps arrayed in line of battle against them.

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Lt. General James Longstreet's Confederate 1st Corps was being pressed by Major General Edward Ord's Army of the James and the 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Lee looked to Gordon to save the Army of Northern Virginia and sent a member of his staff to ascertain what the commander of his 2nd Corps needed to continue the fight. The answer that came back did not please Lee: "Tell General Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet's corps."

With Longstreet being heavily pressed by overwhelming forces, and with Gordon unable to press any further, Lee now knew that his situation was hopeless. "Then there is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths."

A white linen dish towel was used by the Confederates as a flag of truce and was carried by one of Longstreet's staffers into Custer's lines. After several hours of back and forth communications between Grant and Lee, the two generals agreed to meet at the McLean House to discuss terms of surrender. Wilmer McLean had lived at a farmhouse near Manassas Junction at the start of the war. His home had been used by then Brigadier General P.G.T Beauregard as his headquarters during the Battle of First Manassas. McLean had been so appalled by the battle and its aftermath that he had moved his family far away to the west where he suspected war would never reach them. Now the commanders of the two great armies were meeting in his front parlor to bring an end to that war which had essentially begun in his front yard some four years earlier.

Robert E. Lee arrived at the McLean House in full ceremonial uniform while Grant came in muddy field dress. Such a contrast in appearance was appropriate as Lee came from Virginia royalty while Grant, the son of a tanner, came from a more blue collar background.

Grant tried to make small talk with Lee before getting to the business at hand. While Lee maintained an air of politeness, it was clear to Grant that the Virginia gentleman wanted no part in casual conversation, being more concerned with Grant's terms of surrender. Those terms surprised Lee in their generosity. His men would not be imprisoned nor brought up on charges of treason; officers were allowed to keep their sidearms, horses, and personal baggage; and, most importantly, food would be supplied to the Confederates to satiate their empty stomachs.

The documents were drafted by Colonel Ely S. Parker, a member of Grant's staff and a full-blooded Senaca indian. Lee, upon discovering that Parker was Native American, was said to have remarked: "It is good to have one real American here." To which Parker is said to have replied: "Sir, we are all Americans." However, it is likely that this exchange - reported only by Parker in the post-war years - is apocryphal.

The documents were signed by Grant and Lee shortly after 4:00 PM. Lee rode away from the McLean House as quickly and as quietly as he had come. Upon learning of the surrender, Grant's men began cheering and cannons began to boom in celebration. Grant, however, quickly ordered these celebrations stopped. The Confederates were now their countrymen once more and there was no sense in celebrating their downfall.

[dawg80]

The remaining Louisiana troops, about 1,200 from an original 12,000 who had gone to Virginia, were brigaded under Colonel Eugene Waggaman, highest ranking Louisiana officer still on active duty. In his book on Lee's "Foreign Legion" focusing on the 10th Louisiana Regiment historian Tom Brooks wrote of the final charge of the Tigers. Yes, they had brushed aside Union cavalry and the Tigers charged down the road, the Lynchburg Road, but the rest of Gordon's division thought better of it. The Tigers reluctantly retired back up the road.

[dawg80]

April 10, 1864

Beaten Union army retreats back to Natchitoches and Grand Ecore then abandons Natchitoches because they didn't want their defensive lines to stretch the 5-mile distance. The Yanks dug in and hunkered down on the bluffs at Grand Ecore overlooking the Red River. Below Admiral David Porter's Union fleet was anchored. General Banks had summoned reinforcements out of Little Rock and a legion, numbering 7,000 troops across the three arms, under General Frederick Steele, was marching south to rendezvous with Bank's army. A renewed push on Shreveport was planned, this time using the eastern route. Steele's Union legion would never enter Louisiana, as Confederates under General Sterling Price had other ideas.

Bank's army would remain at Grand Ecore from April 10-21st, but during that time other events would occur.

[dawg80]

April 12. 1864 The skirmish at Blair's Landing on Red River, a "battle" by another name, occurred.

Admiral David Porter had proceeded upriver as far as Loggy Bayou, about 40 miles below Shreveport with a flotilla of 8 gunboats and troop transports with a division of infantry, 17th Corps under General T.K Smith. News reached Porter of the defeat of the army at Mansfield, so he turned about and headed back down the river. General Richard Taylor had ordered his cavalry commander, General Tom Green, to take two regiments and as many guns as he could and capture or destroy Porter's isolated fleet. Green went to Blair's Landing 16 miles from Pleasant Hill and set up his position. Amongst the guns he had were captured Yankee cannons, including six 10 pound-Parrot rifles of the famous Chicago Mercantile Battery left abandoned at Mansfield. The 10-pound Parrot rifle was considered the best field artillery piece, by both sides, during the war. It could bullseye a basketball at 2 miles distance, was very accurate and very powerful. With a rifled barrel it fired conical shells, instead of the round cannonball. Porter did not have any of his heavy ironclads with him since the river was too low, all he had were lighter "tin clads" as they were called. Their thin armor could stave off musket fire and weaker smoothbore cannons but were no match for the Parrots.

The lead ship was the gunboat USS Hastings, it was shot to pieces, its machinery wrecked and left adrift. A "pumper" boat, Champion #5 attempted to assist but it too was shot to pieces. Now the two disabled Yankee ships drifted with the current blocking the path of those behind. Admiral Porter was slightly wounded when Confederates peppered his ship, the USS Blackhawk, with musket fire. The Blackhawk's pilot had his right hand mangled by a musket ball, but he stayed at the wheel. The transports halted upriver and put the infantry ashore. Green's position on the sandy bank of the Red River was getting precarious. Now Union gunboats opened up on them, firing grapeshot. Green had just ordered a retreat when a cannonball struck him in the head. He was killed instantly, and his lifeless, headless body stayed in the saddle as his horse bolted. That was a horrifying sight to his men, who hastened their retreat. The two disabled Union boats were towed back to Grand Ecore. The death and carnage aboard was horrific.

General Taylor was deeply saddened by the loss of General Tom Green. In a matter of a few days he had lost two generals, General Alfred Mouton and General Tom Green. They had not just been two of his trusted subordinates but were also close friends. The three men had served together in Louisiana since early in 1863.

[dawg80]

April 14, 1865 Lincoln is shot at Ford Theater, dies the next morning.

April 14, 1912 The Titanic sinks.

[dawg80]

April 17, 1864

Turned back at Washington, Arkansas (the Confederate capital of the state) Union general Frederick Steele marched his 7,000-strong legion to Camden. He was under orders to enter Louisiana and cooperate with General Nathanial Banks who had suffered setbacks and was now hunkered down at Grand Ecore on the Red River. Banks had 25,000 troops and the Union navy flotilla under Admiral David Porter, yet Banks was counting on Steele to make a break-through and turn the tide in the campaign.

Just above Washington, Arkansas (near Hope, Ark.) Steele encountered General Sterling Price's command, 5,000 troops, dug in and blocking the road. After two days of probing and skirmishing Steele thought better of it and refused to test Price's defenses. He reached Camden on the 17th and sent messengers out seeking guidance on how he should proceed. He was also running short of supplies and fresh water, so he thought it prudent to send out his foraging units to seize food and hay for the horses and any other supplies they might have needed. The largest foraging party headed west, back toward Washington. It was mostly composed of two regiments, one being an all-black regiment (with white officers) the 1st Kansas Infantry Regiment, and another regiment of black teamsters, the 8th Kansas. It was foolish to think General Price's Confederates wouldn't follow the Union column. They did.

[FriscoDog]

On this date in 1970 Apollo 13, returned back to Earth.

“Houston, we’ve had a problem …” Fifty years ago today – on April 17, 1970 – the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission returned to Earth safely, after a missed moon landing and near-disaster for the three astronauts aboard. An oxygen tank had exploded in the spacecraft four days earlier on April 13, causing the second oxygen tank to fail as well and depriving astronauts James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise of most of their air reserves, water supply, light and power.
Apollo 13 would have landed a lunar module (called a LM, pronounced “lem”) on the moon’s surface, while the command module orbited above. The landing was planned for the Fra Mauro Highlands, later visited by Apollo 14. The goal had been to investigate terrain shaped by the giant Imbrium impact billions of years ago.
But it wasn’t to be. Keep reading to learn more about the perilous journey of Apollo 13 – a brush with death for the three astronauts on board – and the human ingenuity that led the mission to a safe and successful conclusion.

[dawg80]

April 18, 1864 Engagement at Poison Springs, Arkansas

Union foragers had raided area farms taking what they wanted. Locals sent riders to find the Confederate army of General Price, and they didn't have to go far. Price had dispatched generals Marmaduke and Maxey with 3,000 cavalry and mounted infantry (called "horse") and they were already maneuvering to ambush the Union supply train. The Union contingent numbered 1,170, mostly infantry with two squadrons of cavalry (60 troopers). The Confederates hit the Yankees at Poison Springs about 12 miles west of Camden and it was a complete rout. The fighting was up close and dissolved into a melee between smaller groups as the Yanks took to the thick woods trying to escape pursued by the Confederates.

Of the 1,170 Yanks less than 300 managed to find their way back to Camden, absent any of the supply wagons. It was a complete disaster for General Steele so he began his retreat back to Little Rock. He sent word he would not be joining with General Banks in Louisiana.

Controversy.

Members of the black regiment, the 1st Kansas Infantry, who had been captured were subjected to reprisals by members of the Native American contingent, the Cherokee Battalion serving under General Maxey. There are conflicting reports on exactly what happened but the consensus is, the Cherokees tortured and murdered prisoners of the 1st Kansas in some very gruesome ways. It was the 1st Kansas who had, the previous year, attacked a Cherokee village in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and committed atrocities. They tossed indian babies up in the air and caught them on the end of their bayonets. The Cherokees had been spoiling for revenge. Confederate officers, including General Maxey, tried to stop the post-battle massacre, but found the Cherokees in a state of raging hate and decided not to interfere. It is thought that 80 members of the 1st Kansas were butchered by the Cherokees. What is known is that the 1st Kansas Regiment (USCT) ceased to exist after Poison Springs. It went into action that day with 600 officers and men and fewer than 100 survived the battle.