On This Day - 17th June Prev / Next

Monday June 17 1861
  • The following are appointed Confederate Brigadier Generals:
    • Barnard Elliott Bee, CSA
    • Richard Stoddert Ewell, CSA
    • William Joseph Hardee, CSA
    • Benjamin Huger, CSA
    • Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, CSA
    • David Rumph Jones, CSA
    • James "Old Pete" Longstreet, CSA
    • John Bankhead Magruder, CSA
    • John Clifford Pemberton, CSA
    • Henry Hopkins Sibley, CSA
    • Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA
  • Frederick West Lander, USA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
  • Engagement at Booneville, MO, Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, USA, inflicting a Confederate defeat under Governor Claiborne Jackson.
  • Jefferson City, MO, is controlled by Union forces under Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, USA.
  • Affair at Conrad's Ferry, MD, with Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, USA.
  • President Abraham Lincoln watches the new hot air balloon invention of Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, as a potential military observation weapon.
  • Skirmish near Vienna, VA, with Col. Maxcy Gregg, CSA, 1st S.C.
Tuesday June 17 1862
  • Engagement at Saint Charles, White River, AR, with the US Gunboats: Conestoga, Lexington, Mound City, and St. Louis, the Mound City's boiler explodes, killing/wounding 100 men.
  • Skirmish near Smithville, AR, killing a few bushwackers.
  • Skirmish at Pass Manchac, LA, where Union forces with the help of the Union gunboat, New London, attack the Confederate positions.
  • Gen. Braxton Bragg, CSA, temporarily supersedes the ailing Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, CSA, in the command of Dept. No. 2, or the Western Dept., around Tupelo, MS.
  • Skirmish at Eminence, MO.
  • Skirmish near Warrensburg, MO, with Rebel bushwackers.
  • Maj. Gen. Thomas Jackson's CSA forces move from Weyer's Cave for the Virginia Peninsula, to assist Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, and the Army of Northern Virginia's attempt to repulse the Army of the Potomac's advance on Richmond, VA, under Maj. Gen. George McClellan, USA.
  • Maj. Gen. Charles Fremont, USA, resigns his position after refusing to serve under Maj. Gen. John Pope, USA, who Lincoln is bringing east to command the newly created Army of Virginia. Fremont is replaced by Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, USA.
Wednesday June 17 1863
  • Brig. Gen. Isham Warren Garrott, CSA, is mortally wounded on the Vicksburg, MS, skirmish line while firing a rifle at the Federal troops.
  • The capture of the Confederate Steamer, CSS Atlanta, by the US ironclads, Nahant, and the Weehawken, on the Wilmington River, Warsaw Sound, GA.
  • Col. Hines' Confederate Cavalry raid into Indiana, crossing the Ohio River at Rome, IN, moving to Paoli, and retreating.
  • Skirmishes at Catoctin Creek and Point of Rocks, MD, as Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, moves into Maryland.
  • The Confederate attack on Union transports on the Mississippi River, near Commerce, MS.
  • Skirmish near Wesport, MO.
  • Affair near Wellington, MO, with bushwackers.
  • Federal scout from Rocky Run to Dover and Core Creek, NC, with no confrontation with the Confederates. (Jun 17-18)
  • Confederate operations on the Mississippi River, near Memphis, TN, and attack on transports there, with damage to the steamers, Golden Era and the Platte Valley. (Jun 17-18)
  • Federal expedition from Pocahontas, TN, toward Pontotoc, MS. (Jun 17-22)
  • Affair at Wartburg, near Montgomery, TN, with Col. Sanders, USA.
  • Action at Aldie, VA with Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, USA.
  • Skirmishes at and near Middleburg, VA. (Jun 17-18)
  • Skirmish at Thoroughfare Gap, VA, with Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet, CSA.
Friday June 17 1864
  • Skirmish on Monticello Road, near Pine Bluff, AR.
  • Skirmish near Columbia, MO, with guerrillas.
  • Skirmish on the Bermuda Hundred, VA, front, as Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard fends off the 2nd Corps under Maj. Gen. William Hancock, USA.
  • Gen. Lee sends the Army of Northern Virginia to Petersburg, the Richmond, VA, Campaign.
  • The Engagement at Lynchburg, VA, where Lieut. Gen. Jubal A. Early, CSA, joins with Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, CSA, and forces Maj. Gen. David Hunter, USA, to retreat toward Parkersburg and Martinsburg, VA, clearing the Shenandoah Valley of Federals. (Jun 17-18)
  • Skirmish at Diamond Hill, near Lynchburg, VA.
Saturday June 17 1865
  • Federal expedition from Denver, the Colorado Territory, to Fort Halleck, the Dakota Territory. (Jun 17- 19)
  • Skirmish with Indians on Dead Man's Fork, the Dakota Territory.
  • Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, USA, assumes the command of all troops within the State of Texas.

On This Day information kindly provided by Martin Cross, 2nd U.S. Artillery, Bty B.