Information courtesy of the
Minnesota Civil War Commemoration Task Force
Major Highlights for the week
Wednesday March 26, 1862
The Confederate campaign in New Mexico was nearing its climax. A Confederate column marched out on the Santa Fe Trail and headed southeast, where it met a Federal column of Colorado volunteers advancing from Fort Union. At Apache Canyon, near Johnson’s Ranch, portions of the two forces converged. After severe fighting in a valley, the Federals fell back to Pigeon’s Ranch near Glorieta Pass.
Thursday March 27, 1862
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston was ordered to reinforce the Confederates on the Peninsula that were led by Major General John Bankhead Magruder, now threatened by Federal forces under Major General George B. McClellan moving from Fort Monroe, Va.
Friday March 28, 1862
At Pigeon’s Ranch in La Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory, the Federal command of Colonel John P. Slough met a portion of Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley’s Confederates under Colonel W. R. Scurry. Brisk fighting ensued and the Federals fell back, outnumbered and on the defensive. About 400 men commanded by Major J. M. Chivington scrambled over the mountains and descended upon the parked Confederate wagons and supplies at Johnson’s Ranch in the rear of the fighting column. Scurry was forced to retreat to Santa Fe. The Confederates had 1,100 engaged with 36 killed, 60 wounded and 25 missing for a total loss of 121. The Federals engaged 1,342 troops and suffered 101 losses including 31 killed, 50 wounded and 30 missing.
Brigadier General George W. Morgan was given command of the Seventh Division of the Federal Army with the objective of seizing the Cumberland Gap, the vital mountain pass at the intersection of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Saturday March 29, 1862
The Confederate armies of Kentucky and the Mississippi were consolidated under command of General Albert Sidney Johnston, with General P.G.T. Beauregard as second-in-command. The new army’s corps commanders included Major General Leonidas Polk, Major General Braxton Bragg, Major General William J. Hardee and Major General George Bibb Crittenden.
Major General John C. Fremont took command of the Federal’s Mountain Department in Western Virginia, succeeding William S. Rosecrans.
Sunday March 30, 1862
Federals descended upon Union City, Tenn; skirmishing occurred near Clinton, Mo.; and fighting ensued on Wilmington and Whitemarsh Island, Ga.
Monday March 31, 1862
Fearing the safety of Washington after Major General George B. McClellan departed for the Peninsula Campaign, Lincoln ordered back a division under the command of Brigadier General Louis Blenker to join Major General John C. Fremont’s Mountain Division. He wrote to McClellan stating that he did so “with great pain, understanding that you wish it otherwise.”
Major General George Bibb Crittenden, new commander of the Confederate 2nd Division of the Army of Central Kentucky, was relieved of his duties by the order of Major General William J. Hardee.
Confederate Brigadier General William W. Mackall succeeded Major General John Porter McCown in command of the forces at Island No. 10 and at New Madrid, Mo., while Federal Major General David Hunter assumed command of the Department of the South at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Tuesday April 1, 1862
The congregation of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond, Va., having already contributed their bell to be cast into an artillery piece, agreed to purchase enough metal to provide what would later be called, the “Second Baptist Church Battery.”
Confederate Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson retreated southward in the Shenandoah Valley as Federal forces pushed from Strasburg to Woodstock and Edenburg, Va.
Major General George B. Crittenden was placed under arrest on the order of Major General William J. Hardee for drunkenness.
Brackett’s Battalion of Minnesota cavalry arrived at Savannah, Tenn., for duty. Their previous assignment was at Fort Henry, Tenn., which they left on March 25.
Where Minnesota Regiments were the week of March 26-April 1, 1862
1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Enroute from Washington, D.C. to Alexandria, Va., arriving there April 1 to embark on McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.
2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Enroute from Savannah, Tenn. to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn.
3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On garrison duty in Nashville, Tenn.
4th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry - On garrison duty at Fort Snelling, Minn., Fort Ridgely, Minn., and Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory.
5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On garrison duty at Fort Snelling, Minn., with the exception of companies B, C and D which were detached for garrison duty elsewhere. Company B at Fort Ridgely, Minn., Company C at Fort Ripley, Minn., and Company D at Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory. The detached companies would serve in their outposts until November 1862.
Brackett’s Battalion of Minnesota Cavalry – On the move from Fort Henry to Savannah, Tenn., arriving at Savannah on April 1.
1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery - Enroute from St. Louis, Mo., to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. Took part in the expedition to Eastport, Miss., and Chickasaw, Ala., on April 1.
2nd Independent Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery – Organized at Fort Snelling, Minn.
1st United States Sharpshooters, Company I – On garrison duty at Fort Snelling, Minn.
2nd United States Sharpshooters, Company A - Training at Colonel Hiram Berdan’s “Camp of Instruction”
