August 2026

“The flag was shot through three times, and the flag-staff was shot off whilst in his hands.”–Memorials of Elisha Franklin Paxton.

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Elisha Franklin Paxton – Letters from camp and field while an officer in the Confederate Army

The following is taken from the Lexington “Gazette,” dated August 8,1861: ”It is due to our worthy fellow-citizen, Mr. E. F. Paxton, or rather it is due to the county of Rockbridge, to claim credit for Mr. Paxton’s conduct, which he has been too modest to claim for himself. A correspondent of one of the [...]

Civil War Day-By-Day

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 8, 1861 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Rebels routed at Lovettsville, Va. Of?ce of the Democratic Standard, a secession paper, at Concord, N. H., cleaned out by a mob, and the materials burned in the street. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New [...]

Seeking any little personal anecdote relative to wounded soldiers that might interest contributors …—Woolsey Family Letters; Miss I. L. Schuyler to Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey

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Woolsey family letters during the War for the Union

  25 Cooper Union, N. Y., August 7th, 1861. My dear Miss Woolsey: Dr. Blackwell, at our last board meeting, read a very interesting letter from you, giving details about the hospitals. We should be very much obliged if you would be willing to write us a few incidents in regard to hospital supplies. Any [...]

Extracts from the journal of Commander Semmes, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Sumter

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War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

Wednesday, August 7.—Weather clear and delightful and the sea smooth. We have seen nothing during the day, flocks of flying fish being the only living things that meet our view. Exercising the crew, now made somewhat short by the absence of three prize crews. Averaged in the last twenty-four hours 8½ knots per hour. No [...]

“The Lincoln boys were here again today. My three boys are now fited out in the Zuave uniform.”—Horatio Nelson Taft

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

WEDNESDAY 7 Heat still oppressive. M. 92, but a good air. Was on the Ave awhile this morning, soldiers not as plenty there as formerly. They are now kept in their quarters. The “Patrol” “nabs” them anywhere, officers and all, when found without a “pass.” Congress adjourned yesterday. I have spent most of the day [...]

The Burning of Hampton

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Harper’s Weekly

August 7, 1861 – Harper’s Weekly WE illustrate on page 550 the BURNING OF HAMPTON by the rebels under General Magruder. The correspondent of the Associated Press thus describes the scene: A few minutes past midnight General Magruder, with about five hundred rebels, some of them belonging in Hampton, entered the town and immediately fired [...]

Stars and Bars

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Miscellaneous document sources, News of the Day

Bellville [Tx] Countryman, August 7, 1861 The Stars and Bars are now floating over our office. For this present we are indebted to Mrs. Jane Railey, of this place. The flag is a neat one, of medium size, and has a star for each Confederate State. We had thought of publishing a speech that might [...]

A Female Spy

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Miscellaneous document sources, News of the Day

Daily Chronicle & Sentinel [Augusta, GA], August 7, 1861 A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, writing from Western Virginia, says: “A female spy has been discovered in the first Kentucky regiment. She is from Georgia, and enlisted at Cincinnati. She was detected by writing information in regard to the movements of our troops to the [...]

Civil War Day-By-Day

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 7, 1861 John Bankhead Magruder burns the village of Hampton, near Fort Monroe. General Benjamin Butler had been planning to use it to house “contraband.” (Butler’s word for slaves) The Maryland legislature adjourns without seceding, but votes to reconvene in September A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Hampton, Va., burned by [...]

1000 Colored Men Wanted

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 6, 1862, Daily Times (Leavenworth, Kansas) War for the Union! and for Freedom for All. 1000 Colored Men Wanted for the 1st K. R. of the Liberating Army.                       All able bodied colored men, between the age of eighteen and forty-five, can now have [...]

A Diary of American Events.–August 6, 1861

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The Rebellion Record – A Diary of American Events; by Frank Moore

August 6.–All the bills which passed both Houses of the Congress of the United States, were approved by President Lincoln, who yielded a reluctant approval of that for the confiscation of property used for rebellious purposes.– (Doc. 159.) –The brigs Naiad, Machias, and Ben Dunning, seized by the privateer steamer Sumter, near Cienfuegos, arrived at [...]

Civil War Day-By-Day

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Civil War Day-by-Day

August 6, 1861 First Confiscation Act or The Confiscation Act of 1861 allows federals to seize property used in the insurrection, essentially freeing slaves forced to participate in the Confederate war effort. Second Session of the Second Wheeling Convention is called to order Lt. Bull Nelson of the U. S. Navy is ordered to build [...]