Historical Events
- Aug 4 US government collects its 1st income tax
- Aug 5 Battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Union forces prevent Confederate attempts to capture the city
- Aug 6 Confederate ironclad "Arkansas" is badly damaged in Union attack
- Aug 9 Battle of Cedar Mountain [Slaughter's Mountain], fought in Culpeper County, Virginia, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
Beatrice et Benedict
Aug 9 Hector Berlioz's opera "Beatrice et Benedict" premieres in Baden-Baden, Germany
- Aug 10 Battle of Nueces River TX
Event of Interest
Aug 12 Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders capture Gallatin, Texas
Lincoln Meets Black Leaders
Aug 14 Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president
- Aug 17 Confederate troops under Edmund Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
Military History
Aug 18 General Lee's adjutant Major Stuart captured [1]
Event of Interest
Aug 22 US Civil War: Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart captures the dress coat of Union Major General John Pope at Catlett Station, Virginia [1]
- Aug 23 Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (2 Federal regiments)
- Aug 25 US Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves
- Aug 28 Battle of Groveton, Virginia (Manassas Plains) [->AUG 19]
- Aug 28 Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia
- Aug 28 Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, D.C.
- Aug 29 Battle of Aspromonte; Italian royal forces defeat rebels
Second Battle of Bull Run
Aug 29 Second Battle of Bull Run, fought in Manassas, Virginia begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
- Aug 29 US Bureau of Engraving & Printing begins operation
United States One Dollar Bill
Aug 29 US Department of the Treasury forms division now known as US Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print newly issued paper currency
- Aug 30 Battle of Altamont-Confederates beat Union forces in Tennessee
- Aug 30 Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, ends with a Confederate victory over Union forces
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 M. R. James, English scholar and author (Ghost Stories of an Antiquary), born in Goodnestone, Dover, Kent (d. 1936)
- Aug 5 Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man", born in Leicester, England (d. 1890)
- Aug 7 Victoria of Baden, Queen of Sweden, born in Karlsruhe, Baden (d. 1931)
- Aug 11 Carrie Jacobs-Bond, American singer, pianist, songwriter (I Love You Truly; A Perfect Day), born in Janesville, Wisconsin (d. 1946)
- Aug 16 Amos Alonzo Stagg, American athlete and American football pioneer, born in West Orange, New Jersey (d. 1965)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Aug 22 French composer (La Mer; Clair de lune), born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
- Aug 26 Herbert Booth, American son of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1926)
Andrew Fisher (1862-1928)
Aug 29 5th Prime Minister of Australia (1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15), born in Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949)
Aug 29 Belgian playwright, poet and author (Blue Bird, Nobel 1911), born in Ghent, Belgium
Famous Deaths
- Aug 5 Thomas Williams, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle at 47
- Aug 6 Francisco Acuña de Figueroa, Uruguayan poet (Toraidas), dies at 71
- Aug 9 Charles S. Winder, American military officer and Confederate Brigadier General (US Army, 1850-61; Confederate Army, 1861-62), killed in the Battle of Cedar Mountain Virginia at 32
- Aug 9 Joseph Bennett Plummer, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 42 or 46
- Aug 10 Hon'inbō Shūsaku, Japanese professional Go player, dies at 33
- Aug 22 Henry Bohlen, German/US brigadier general (Union), dies in battle at 51
- Aug 30 Charles Bernard Desormes, French physicist and chemist who determined the ratio of the specific heats of gases and the composition of carbon monoxide and carbon disulfide, dies at 91
- Aug 31 George William Taylor, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle
- Aug 31 Ignaz Assmayer, Austrian organist and liturgical composer, dies at 72
