On This Day - 20th January Prev / Next

Sunday January 20 1861
  • Fort Massachusetts, Ship Island, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico, is seized by the Mississippi state troops, a key refueling point for Union vessels and key in the defense of New Orleans, LA.
Monday January 20 1862
  • Contest over the British schooner Andracita, formerly the J.W. Wilder, off the coast of Alabama, with the Federals capturing this blockade runner.
  • Operations in and about Atchison, KS, with Capt. Irving W. Fuller, 1st MO Cavalry. (Jan 20-24)
  • A second stone fleet is sunk at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, SC, by the Federals in an attempt to prevent Confederate blockade runners for using the harbor.
Tuesday January 20 1863
  • Joseph Wheeler, C.S.A., is appointed Maj. Gen.
  • The following are appointed Confederate Brigadier Generals:
    • Frank Crawford Armstrong, CSA
    • William Lewis Cabell, CSA
    • George Blake Cosby, CSA
    • Marcellus Augustus Stovall, CSA
  • Patterson, MO, is captured by Brig. Gen. John Marmaduke, CSA.
  • Maj. Gen. David Hunter, USA, resumes the command of the Dept. of the South, SC.
  • The "Mud March," about Fredericksburg, VA, by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Union forces, damages the morale of these troops, in gruelling inclimate weather of a mixture of rain and snow, the Federals return to their original positions after continuous Marching in knee deep mud. (Jan 20-24)
Wednesday January 20 1864
  • Nathaniel Harrison Harris, CS A, is appointed Brig. Gen.
  • Clement Hoffman Stevens, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
  • Federal naval reconnaissance of Forts Morgan and Gaines, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, AL.
  • Skirmish at Island No. 76, Mississippi River.
  • Operations in the District of North Carolina, as Federals under Brig. Gen. Innis Palmer, USA, commanding the Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina leave Plymouth, NC, to capture and destroy Rebel property; the expedition is highly successful, with over 150,000 pounds of pork, plus salt, sugar, etc. destroyed. (Jan 20-29)
  • Skirmish at Tracy City, TN, as Confederate cavalry arrive at Altamont, 2 dressed in Union uniform, call a Union captain out of the house he was in, and shoot and kill him when he comes out. They proceed to Tracy City where they overrun the Federals there and shoot another Union captain through the lung after he threw his weapon down, capturing and paroling other Union soldiers in the process.
Friday January 20 1865
  • William McComb, CSA, is appointed Brig. Gen.
  • The Territory of Arizona is re-annexed to the Dept. of the Pacific.
  • Skirmish near Fort Larned, KS, as the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians attack the sutler wagon train destined for Fort Lyon. The Yankee escort repels the Indian attacks, but the train returns back to Fort Larned, with casualties on both sides.
  • Skirmish at the Point of Rocks or the Nine-Mile Ridge, KS.
  • Federal reconnaissance from Pocotaligo to the Salkehatchie River, SC, and skirmish, as the Confederates have few men to assemble against the advancing Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA.
  • Secretary of War Stanton briefs President Lincoln on his recent meetings with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, USA.

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