Battle of Camp Davies
Battle of Camp Davies | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Francis L. Cramer | Thomas W. Ham | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
1st Regiment Alabama Cavalry (Union) | 16th Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry State Troops | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
70 | 150 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
2 wounded | 4 known KIA |
The Battle of Camp Davies was a skirmish during the
Background
On May 30, 1862,
In November, 1862, the 14th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment,[a] established a base six miles south of Corinth, along the lower reaches of Clear Creek, near its junction with the Tuscumbia River. They named it Camp Davies, in honor of their former division commander, Brigadier General Thomas Alfred Davies. Eventually enclosed by a wooden stockade, it contained forty buildings within the walls.[3]
Battle
Corinth area military engagements in 1863
From November 1862 to January 1864, Historian E. B. Long recorded skirmishes in the Corinth area on June 11, 1863, August 16, 1863, November 2, 1863, November 12, 1863, and December 23, 1863.[4] Long cites Frederick Dyer's A Compendium of the War of Rebellion (1908) as one of the sources in preparing his work, The Civil War Day by Day (1971).[5]
The November 22, 1863, engagement in the Corinth area was recorded by Frederick Dyer in 1908 and E. B. Long in 1971 as a skirmish at Camp Davies.[6][7]
Skirmish at Camp Davies
A brief report on the Skirmish at Camp Davies, Mississippi on November 22, 1863, by Union Army Brigadier General John D. Stevenson is shown at page 573 of Series 1, volume 31, Part 1 of The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. General Stevenson reported from Corinth, Mississippi, November 22, 1863, on the skirmish of a detachment of the 1st Regiment Alabama Cavalry (Union) with a Confederate force as follows:
A force of enemy, 150 strong, under Ham, appearing on Ripley road, 5 miles from Camp Davies, were attacked by Major Cramer, First Alabama Cavalry, with 70 men, and after a sharp fight were driven in confusion in direction of Rienzi. Enemy's loss, 4 known to be killed. Our loss, 2 severely wounded.[8]
Aftermath
Following the skirmishes of 1863 various regiments used Camp Davies, until abandoned and destroyed on January 24, 1864.[3] The garrisons had to be watchful for Confederate raiders, scouts and guerrillas who appeared in the area intermittently.[3]
The Confederate officer "Ham" referred to in the report would have been Major Thomas Wiley Ham, then major commanding 16th Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry State Troops (sometimes referred to as 1st Battalion or simply as Ham's Battalion of Cavalry).[9] The battalion was transferred to Confederate service on May 4, 1864, and consolidated with other companies to form Ham's Cavalry Regiment with Thomas W. Ham as colonel.[10][11] The regiment is shown in the Mississippi State record of commissions as the Seventh Regiment Cavalry but surviving Confederate organization records do not show it with that title[12] Colonel Ham was mortally wounded in fighting at the Battle of Ezra Church, west of Atlanta on July 28, 1864, and died on July 30, 1864.[13]
Major Francis L. Cramer of the 1st Regiment Alabama Cavalry (Union) was
Notes
- ^ Then Birge's Western Sharpshooters, later re-designated the 66th Illinois Infantry Regiment
References
- ISBN 978-1-62846-170-1.
- ^ Ballard, 2011, p. 32.
- ^ a b c d Camp Davies, National Park Service. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
- OCLC 68283123. p. 904.
- ^ Long, 1971, p. 731.
- ISBN 978-0-89029-046-0. First published 1908 by Dyer Publishing. p. 784.
- ^ Long, 1971, p. 436.
- OCLC 427057. Series 1, volume 31, Part 1 (1890). Report of Brigadier General John D. Stevenson. p. 573.
- ISBN 978-0-8262-1809-4. p. 178.
- ^ Allardice, 2008, pp. 178-179.
- ^ Mississippi: Ham's Cavalry Regiment, The American Civil War web site. Retrieved March 29, 2020, gives the date of the transfer as April 30, 1864.
- ^ Mississippi: Ham's Cavalry Regiment, The American Civil War web site. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- ^ Allaridice, 2008, p. 179.
- OCLC 427057. Series 1, vol. XLVII (47), Part 1 (1895), Pages 896-898. Report of Major Sanford Tramel, First Alabama Cavalry of operations January 28-March 24. March 28, 1865.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 743.
Sources
- Camp Davies, National Park Service. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
- Mississippi: Ham's Cavalry Regiment, The American Civil War web site. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- Allardice, Bruce S. Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8262-1809-4.
- Ballard, Michael B. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles. Jackson, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-62846-170-1.
- Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of Rebellion: Compiled and Arranged From Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Armies, Reports of the Adjutant Generals of the Several States, The Army Registers and Other Reliable Documents and Sources. Dayton, Ohio: Morningside Books, 1978. ISBN 978-0-89029-046-0. First published 1908 by Dyer Publishing.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC 68283123.
- United States War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. OCLC 427057. Series 1, volume 31, Part 1 (1890).
- United States War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. OCLC 427057. Series 1, vol. XLVII (47), Part 1. (1895) Report of Major Sanford Tramel, First Alabama Cavalry of operations January 28-March 24. March 28, 1865.