McDowell moves on Manassas Junction

Manassas Railroad Junction

• In Washington, the US Congress authorizes President Lincoln to do what he has already done without an historic precedent -- to call state militias up to suppress the popular movement of other states and to accept the services of 500,000 men./1861

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J.E.B. Stuart

• J.E.B. Stuart is promoted to full colonel in the Confederate Army. /1861 
• US General Irvin McDowell breaks camp around Washington with the largest army the United States has ever raised, 35,000 men, and advances on Manassas Junction, Virginia. Unfortunately the green recruits drink all the water in their canteens and wander out of the line of march to find more – and pick blackberries, leaving tons of strewn equipage along the roads. /1861 

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• Feds try to stop Johnston's movement toward Manassas (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Forward to Richmond! Or, How Over-Estimating is Under-Estimating (civilwardailygazette.com)
• This Week in the Civil War (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Martinsburg burned; Skirmish at Cole Camp, Missouri

Martinsburg, (West) Virginia June 19-20, 1861

• While Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Col. Thomas J. Jackson are on the road retreating from Harper’s Ferry toward Winchester, Virginia, Johnston is concerned that Union troops might be advancing toward Martinsburg, (West) Virginia, where Colonel J.E.B. Stuart is, twenty miles north of Winchester. Johnson orders Jackson to join Stuart and destroy the important Baltimore & Ohio railroad shops before they fall into Union hands./1861
• The Pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard defeats the pro-Union Missouri Home Guard in a battle at Cole Camp in Benton County, Missouri. The Confederate victory provides an open line of march for the fleeing Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Missouri State Guard to get away from US Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's force in Boonville, Missouri./1861
• At the Second Wheeling Convention in western Virginia, delegates vote unanimously to follow US Constitutional restrictions for formation of new states and form a loyal government of Virginia which would permit creation of a new state./1861

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