This Month in the Civil War: Seven Days' Battles Begin

From the American Battlefield Trust June 2022 calendar.

JUNE 17, 1863

**  Battle of Aldie, Virginia.

JUNE 19,  1862

**  Lincoln signs legislation prohibiting slavery in the current and future federal territories.

JUNE  25, 1862

**  The Seven Days' Battles begin at Oak Grove, Virginia.

JUNE 27, 1862

**  Battle of Gaines Mills, Virginia (Seven Days' Battles)

JUNE 27, 1864

**  Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.

JUNE 29, 1862

**  Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia.  (Seven Days' Battles)

JUNE 29, 1864

**  The First Battle of Reams  Station, Virginia.

June 30, 1862

**  Battle of Glendale (Frayser's Farm), Virginia.  (Seven Days' Battles)

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in June: Seven Days' Battles Begin and kennesaw Mountain

JUNE 19, 1862

Lincoln signs a bill prohibiting slavery in the Western Territories.

JUNE 25, 1862

The Seven Days' Battles begins at Oak Grove, Virginia.

JUNE 27, 1862

Battle of Gaines' Mill, Virginia

JUNE  27, 1864

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia

JUNE  29, 1862

Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia

JUNE 29, 1864

Battle of Reams Station, Virginia

JUNE 30, 1862

Battle of Glendale (Frayser's Farm), Virginia

--Old Secesh

Joseph J. Gravely's Brother, Francis B. Gravely, Fought for the Confederacy

I figured since Joseph Gravely was from a prominent Virginia family that there might be the likelihood that some of them fought for the Confederacy.  

From Find-A-Grave.

CAPT. FRANCIS  B. "FRANK" GRAVELY

BORN:  29 April 1840, Leatherwood, Henry County, Virginia

DIED:   27 October 1905 (age 65)  Danville, Virginia

BURIAL:  Green Hill Cemetery, Danville, Va.

Confederate soldier, Co. B Danville Greys, Virginia troops

He was 21 years old when the Civil War began and enlisted as a private in the Danville Greys and served in this command until desperately wounded at the Battle of Gaines Mill.

He was considered by his comrades in arms and by his superior officers as being one of the bravest soldiers in the service.  On several occasions, he was  commended for his display of valor during different engagements.

A Divided Family.  --Old Secesh

Oliver Willcox Norton and "Taps"-- Part 1: He Played It First

I wrote about him in yesterday's post.

From Find-A Grave.

OLIVER WILLCOX NORTON

Birth:  17 December 1839   Angelica, New York

Death:  1 October 1920 aged 80    Cremated and ashes spread by his family.

He was teaching in West Springfield, Pennsylvania, when the war began and resigned and joined Co. K of the 83rd Pennsylvania as a private on September 1, 1861.  He was wounded at Gaines Mill, Virginia, on June 27, 1862.

Mr. Norton  likely had no idea the impact he had on the military, both its nightly routine and in honoring those who gave their lives.

That moment came when, as a the company bugler, he played a variation of a Scottish tattoo that would become known as "Taps."

--Old SecTaps

The Civil War's "Kitty Hawk" Moment-- Part 2

Mike Boehme, director of the Virginia Aviation Museum said, "This was the first time that opposing air forces were facing each other."

Today, the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), a nonprofit group devoted to saving battlefields, is seeking to save the ground where the Union balloons were launched. Little of the original Gaines Mill Battlefield has been preserved, but the 285-acre slice of it the group wants to save includes the ravine that shielded the balloons from Confederate fire.

Gaines Mill was one of the biggest and bloodiest battles where Confederate General Robert E. Lee recorded his first victory on June 27, 1862, which led to the Seven Days battles which turned away Union forces trying to capture Richmond.

The CWPT's Rob Shenk was attending a Civil War ballooning presentation when he realized that the launch site was part of the land the group was about to save.

Until the war, balloons were mostly a fair attraction. Come the war, New Englander Thaddeus Lowe became the Father of military aerial reconnaissance by dazzling President Lincoln with the balloon possibilities.

There Is No Place Like Home. --Old B-R'er