1816
- US Major General Nathanial P. Banks
- US Major General Nathanial P. Banks was born in Waltham, MA. Receiving only a minimal education, he would later apprentice as a mechanic. After editing several newspapers, he would end up studying law, being accepted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1839. With a skill for rhetoric, it was only a matter of time before he would enter politics. Banks would be elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and in 1853 he would be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he would be elected Speaker of the House during his second term. He would be re-elected for a third term, as a Republican. He would then be elected governor of Massachusetts from 1858-1860. When the Civil War started, he would become an important political general for Abraham Lincoln, and would be appointed the first major general of volunteers. He would command an army in Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign, and would be beaten at Strasburg, Virginia. He would retreat down the Shenandoah Valley, to Winchester and eventually all the way to Maryland. Later, in 1862, he would be soundly thrashed at Cedar Mountain - again by Jackson. Next, he was tasked with commanding the defenses of Washington and would be asked to recruit 30,000 New Englanders. In December 1862 he would be assigned to replace US Major General Benjamin Butler at New Orleans, Louisiana where he would become commander of the Department of the Gulf. He would be involved in the battle of Teche Bayou and later would command the Siege of Port Hudson. In 1864 he would command the Red River Campaign, again unsuccessfully. Banks would be removed from command after the Red River Campaign. He would be officially mustered out of the U.S. Army in August 1865, by President Andrew Johnson. He would again serve in congress. He would die at Waltham, Massachusetts on September 1, 1894.
1863
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The Battle of Deserted House is fought at Kelly’s Store, Virginia. Federal forces under Brigadier General Michael Corcoran suffered 104 casualties, compared to 50 Confederate casualties. The Confederate forces were commanded by CS Brigadier General Robert Pryor. While the numbers do not reflect it, the Battle of Deserted House was a Union victory during the Suffolk Campaign.