Civil War Timeline / Chronology for August 1864

August 1, 1864	Phil Sheridan [US] is named commander, Army of the Shenandoah	Virginia
	Philip Sheridan
August 3, 1864 August 23, 1864	Battle of Mobile Bay	Alabama
	David Farragut
	Gordon Granger
	Battle of Mobile Bay
August 3, 1864	Gordon Granger lands on Dauphin Island and invests Fort Gaines, one of two forts defending Mobile	Alabama
	Gordon Granger
	Battle of Mobile Bay
August 5, 1864	18 Union ships sail past the entrance to Mobile Bay. The C. S. S. Tennessee, prize ironclad of the Confederate Navy awaited the attack. As the U. S. S. Tecumseh sinks Admiral David Farragut orders "Damn the torpedoes, go ahead." His flag vessel Hartford took the lead. The ships destroyed the Confederate fleet	Alabama
	Battle of Mobile Bay
	David Farragut
August 7, 1864	Battle of Moorefield. Last major engagement in West Virginia during the Civil War.	West Virginia
	Jubal Early's Raid on Washington D. C.
August 8, 1864	Fort Gaines, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, surrenders	Alabama
	Battle of Mobile Bay
August 9, 1864	Federals lay siege to Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay	Alabama
	Battle of Mobile Bay
August 9, 1864	Explosion of an ordinance vessel rocks the wharves at City Point	Virginia
August 10, 1864	Joe Wheeler [CS] begins raiding in North Georgia with his cavalry	Georgia
August 14, 1864	Second battle of Dalton	Georgia
August 17, 1864	General John Bankhead Magruder appointed commander of Confederate forces in Arkansas	Arkansas
	John Magruder
August 18, 1864 August 19, 1864	Battle of the Weldon Railroad After gaining the railroad, 5th Corps commander G. K. Warren [US] spread out over a mile of track, then turned north towards Petersburg, but the didn't get far before Henry Heth's [CS] Confederates stopped them. A counterattack by A. P. Hill the next day contained Warren's advances, but in the end federal troops still controlled the railroad	Virginia
	Siege of Petersburg
August 19, 1864	President Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass for a second time. He asks for Douglass's assistance in moving slaves north in case the war is unsuccessful
	Abraham Lincoln
	Frederick Douglass
August 21, 1864	Forrest liberates Memphis Almost 2,000 Confederates occupied Memphis for a few hours during the day, nearly capturing Major Generals Stephen Hurlbut and C. C. Washburn. The raid forced troops operating in the area to withdraw to Memphis, giving Forrest free reign to raid William Tecumseh Sherman's supply lines	Tennessee
	Nathan Bedford Forrest
August 23, 1864	Fort Morgan, last of the Confederate forts on Mobile Bay, falls into federal hands following a spectacular barrage	Alabama
	Battle of Mobile Bay
August 25, 1864	Battle of Reams Station A. P. Hill [CS] continued his attempts to retake the Weldon Railroad, a vital supply link from Petersburg to North Carolina. Hill drove back the 2nd Corps under General Winfield Scott Hancock and although the battle is considered to be a Southern victory, Hancock's men continued to hold its position on the railroad	Virginia
	Siege of Petersburg
	A. P. Hill
	Winfield Scott Hancock
August 27, 1864	Forward elements of Sherman's army move south to cut Hood's last supply line to Atlanta, the Macon and Western Railroad	Georgia
	William Tecumseh Sherman
August 28, 1864	Almost 60,000 Union troops are moving south, west of Atlanta to Jonesboro, Georgia, trying to outflank John Bell Hood and cut the Macon and Western Railroad
August 29, 1864 August 31, 1864	Democrats nominate George B. McClellan for President and George H. Pendleton for Vice-president. Although the party platform called for an immediate end to the war McClellan advocated continuing the conflict.
	Election of 1864
	George McClellan
	Democratic Party
August 30, 1864	Sherman's army descends in force south of Atlanta. Hood responds by sending corps under Patrick Cleburne and Stephen Lee to defend the Macon and Western Railroad	Georgia
	William Tecumseh Sherman
	John Bell Hood
	Patrick Cleburne
August 31, 1864 September 1, 1864	Battle of Jonesboro (Jonesborough), Georgia In the final battle of the Atlanta Campaign, General William Hardee [CS] attacks O. O. Howard's [US] Army of the Tennessee west of the city of Jonesboro. North of the battle John Schofield cut the Macon and Western at Rough and Ready and Hood's Army was in jeopardy. The battle was joined the second day by large numbers of Union troops. Hardee withdraws at nightfall to join Hood at Lovejoy Station	Georgia
	John Bell Hood
	William Tecumseh Sherman
	Atlanta Campaign