September 9, 1863---The "Battle" of The Cumberland Gap

SEPTEMBER 9, 1863:        

The Battle of The Cumberland Gap.  Having taken Knoxville, Tennessee with hardly a shot being fired, General Ambrose Burnside U.S.A. decides to move against the strategically critical Cumberland Gap with 15,000 men. The Gap is occupied by a Confederate holding force of 2,500, all other Gray troops in the area having been reassigned to Braxton Bragg’s force in the Lookout Mountain region. Although The Gap is a superb defensive position, the Confederate Commander is intimidated by the sheer weight of Union numbers and surrenders The Gap after just a symbolic spattering of shots. The Union occupies The Gap in force, ending the “battle” before it ever begins. 

September 8, 1863---The Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas

SEPTEMBER 8, 1863:       

The Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas. In keeping with President Lincoln’s order to secure the Texas border against any planned French military adventures, U.S. Grant orders seven troopships full of men and four gunboats to take and hold Sabine Pass and establish a beachhead for further action. The only Confederate troops standing against this force are 44 men in shoreside Fort Griffin, all of whom were assigned there as punishment for disciplinary infractions. With nothing else to do at the remote outpost but practice their gunnery skills, they have become expert artillerists, and when the Union landing force approaches the pass the Confederates drive them off despite being outnumbered roughly 100-to-1. While not a grand victory for the South, word of the Union embarrassment at Sabine Pass helps bolster Confederate morale which had been flagging dangerously low.

September 7, 1863---"No war news"

SEPTEMBER 7, 1863: 

Confederate morale continues to plummet. 

A Georgia soldier by the name of Stilwell writes to his wife: “I have no war news here, all eyes are now turned to Charleston and to Bragg's army in Tennessee . . ." 

Richard Henry Brooks, also of Georgia, writes to his wife as well: ". . . I hear of no war news only some think we will be sent to Tennessee but I hope not.” 

As they write these letters, units of the Federal Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee fight a sharp skirmish in Summerville, Georgia on the Tennessee border.

September 6, 1863---Battery Wagner falls; Sumter crumbles

SEPTEMBER 6, 1863:       

Battery Wagner is evacuated by the Confederates and the United States retakes Morris Island in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter begins crumbling under the constant Union bombardment. 

September 5, 1863---"Detained in port"

SEPTEMBER 5, 1863:        

The United States Foreign Minister to Great Britain, Charles Francis Adams, sends an angry letter to the British government warning that war between the two nations could erupt if it allows a pair of powerful ironclad ships, called Laird Ramships, designed to help the Confederates break the Union naval blockade, to set sail. Lord John Russell assured Adams that the ships had been ordered “detained in port” three days earlier. They were never released to the Confederacy. This marked the first time the British Government interfered in the private arming of the Southern Rebellion, and marked the end of the laissez-faire attitude the Crown had taken toward British arms manufactures going to the Rebels. It was also the final death knell of any chance of international recognition of the Confederate States of America.