Saturday, July 18, 1863
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| Action: | Ashby's Gap, VA | July 17 - 18, 1863 | Expedition from: | Batesville, AR | May 30 - February 3, 1864 | Scout: | Berryville, AR | July 18 - 26, 1863 | Skirmish: | Brandon, MS | July 17 - 18, 1863 | Skirmish: | Brookhaven, MS | July 18, 1863 | Skirmish: | Canton, MS | July 18, 1863 | Scout: | Cassville, MO | July 18 - 26, 1863 | Skirmish: | Cross Hollow, AR | July 1863 | Skirmish: | Des Allemands, LA | July 18, 1863 | Expedition from: | Fayetteville, WV | July 13 - 25, 1863 | Operation: | Fort Gregg, SC | July 10 - September 7, 1863 | Assault: | Fort Wagner, SC | July 18, 1863 | Operation: | Fort Wagner, SC | July 10 - September 7, 1863 | Scout: | Germantown, TN | July 16 - 20, 1863 | Campaign: | Gettysburg, PA | June 3 - August 11, 1863 | Skirmish: | Hedgesville, WV | July 18 - 19, 1863 | Expedition to: | Huntsville, AL | July 13 - 22, 1863 | Scout: | Huntsville, AR | July 18 - 26, 1863 | Campaign: | Jackson, MS | July 5 - 25, 1863 | Skirmish: | Martinsburg, WV | July 18 - 19, 1863 | Skirmish: | Memphis, TN | July 18, 1863 | Operation: | Morgan's Raid | July 2 - 26, 1863 | Operation: | Morris Island, SC | July 10 - September 7, 1863 | Operation: | Navajo Indians, New Mexico Territory | July 7 - August 19, 1863 | Expedition from: | New Berne, NC | July 18 - 24, 1863 | Expedition from: | New Berne, NC | July 17 - 20, 1863 | Expedition from: | Pocohontas, TN | July 7 - 22, 1863 | Action: | Pomeroy, OH | July 18, 1863 | Expedition to: | Pontotoc, MS | July 7 - 22, 1863 | Skirmish: | Rio Hondo, New Mexico Territory | July 18, 1863 | Expedition to: | Rocky Mount, NC | July 18 - 24, 1863 | Expedition: | Sioux Expedition, Dakota Territory | June 16 - September 13, 1863 | Expedition against: | Snake Indians, Idaho Territory | May 4 - October 26, 1863 | Expedition to: | Swift Creek Village, NC | July 17 - 20, 1863 | Expedition to: | Tarborough, NC | July 18 - 24, 1863 | Expedition from: | Vicksburg, MS | July 12 - 21, 1863 | Assault on: | Wagner Battery, SC | July 18, 1863 | Siege: | Wagner Battery, SC | July 18 - September 7, 1863 | Skirmish: | Warsaw, NC | July 18, 1863 | Expedition to: | Wytheville, VA | July 13 - 25, 1863 | Actions: | Wytheville, VA | July 18 - 19, 1863 | Expedition to: | Yazoo City, MS | July 12 - 21, 1863 |
(Source: Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Vol. I, p. 660-991. Frederick H. Dyer.)
Naval Events:
The combined attack on Fort Wagner, Charleston harbor, was renewed. Rear Admiral Dahlgren's force consisted of U.S.S. Montauk, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket, Weehawken, and Patapsco. The gunboats U.S.S. Paul Jones, Ottawa, Seneca, Chippewa, and Wissahickon provided long-range support with effect. The heavy fire from the ironclads commenced shortly after noon, the range closing as the tide permitted to 300 yards. The naval bombardment at this distance silenced the fort "so that for this day not a shot was fired afterwards at the vessels . . . ." At sunset Gillmore ordered his troops to attack the fort. "To this moment," Dahlgren reported, "an incessant and accurate fire had been maintained by the vessels, but now it was impossible [in the dim light] to distinguish whether it took effect on friend or foe, and of necessity was suspended. Deprived of naval gunfire support, the Union assault ashore was repulsed with heavy losses.(Source: Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. pp. I:1-41; II:1-117; III:1-170; IV:1-152; V:1-134. 1971: Naval History Division, Navy Department.)A delegation from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bearing a letter from the Governor, was received by Secretary Welles. The group was seeking additional defenses for the city. "Letters from numerous places on the New England coast are received to the same effect," Welles wrote in his diary. "Each of them wants a monitor, or cruiser, or both." The Secretary pointed out that the shore defenses came under the War Department rather than the Navy, and that the local municipality should bear some of the responsibility for its own defense. The successful raid along the New England coast by Lieutenant Read in C.S.S. Tacony the preceding month and persistent rumors of other Confederate cruisers in the area since his capture had alarmed the northern seaboard.
U.S.S. De Soto, commanded by Captain W. M. Walker; U.S.S. Ossipee, commanded by Captain Gillis; and U.S.S. Kennebec, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Russell, seized steamers James Battle and William Bagley in the Gulf of Mexico. The cargo of the former was cotton and rosin, and she was described by Rear Admiral Bailey as "the finest packet on the Alabama River and was altered to suit her for a blockade runner, at a large expense." William Bagley, too, carried a cargo of cotton from Mobile.
Boat crews from U.S.S. Vincennes, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Henry A. Adams, Jr., and U.S.S. Clifton, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Frederick Crocker, captured barge H. McGuin in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
U.S.S. Jacob Bell, commanded by Acting Master Schulze, with U.S.S. Resolute and Racer in company, drove off Confederate troops firing on ship George Peabody, aground at Mathias Point, Virginia.
Additional Information:
The Battle of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina. (SC007) (Operations Against the Defenses of Charleston [April-September 1863]).
(Source: Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report: Battle Summaries. National Park Service. In The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., 1998. Edited by Frances H. Kennedy.)