October 20, 1863---Deaf and Blind

OCTOBER 20, 1863:           

Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley and northwestern Virginia are falling back to regroup after the Battle of Bristoe Station. Skirmishes with Union troops are erupting all along the line, with heavy Confederate casualties. The Confederacy establishes a hospital at Staunton at what was the Virginia School For The Deaf And Blind.  

October 19, 1863---The Union seizes Brown's Ferry, Tennessee

OCTOBER 19, 1863:            

The advancing troops of the Union Army of The Potomac occupy Brown’s Ferry on the Tennessee River, securing their supply line and main route into Chattanooga.

October 18, 1863---Meade repays Sickles for Devil's Den

OCTOBER 18, 1863:            

General Dan Sickles U.S.A., the “goat” of Gettysburg, having been released from the hospital after losing a leg in the battle, returns to the Army of The Potomac. Although his men of the Third Corps give him a rousing welcome, General George Meade refuses to restore him to command until he is “completely healed of his wounds.” Sickles, not an amoeba, cannot grow another leg, and so, with this clumsy excuse, his career as a commander comes to an ignominious end. Sickles spends the rest of his life besmirching General Meade for his “treachery”.

October 17, 1863---Of Generals and Emperors

OCTOBER 17, 1863:             

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, is officially coronated Emperor of Mexico by Emperor Napoleon III of France. The Confederacy waits in expectation that the French puppet “Empire” will join the Civil War on the side of the South. This never happens. 

Ulysses S. Grant is given overall command of the Western Theatre (west of the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River) by President Lincoln.

October 16, 1863---The Battle of Fort Brooke (Tampa Florida)

OCTOBER 16, 1863:            

The Battle of Fort Brooke. The U.S.S. ADELA and the U.S.S. TAHOMA bombard Fort Brooke at the mouth of Tampa Bay in order to cover an amphibious landing by Union troops. 

Florida is sloppy in regard to its few Civil War sites. This oddly placed cannon is the only remnant of Fort Brooke. Now inland (due to landfill) and in the downtown commercial area of Tampa, it’s likely that most passersby have not a clue what a cannon is doing in the middle of the street.