Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city. August 6 – American Civil War: Confederate ironclad is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with , near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. August 9 – American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain – Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope at Cedar Mountain, Virginia. August 14 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln meets with a group of prominent African-Americans, the first time an American President has done so. He suggests that Black people should migrate to Africa or to Central America, but this advice is rejected. August 17 – The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota, as Dakota Sioux attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They are overwhelmed by the U.S. Army six weeks later. August 19 Dakota War of 1862: During an uprising in Minnesota, Dakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way. Horace Greeley publishes an editorial, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions", in the New York Tribune, in which he urges U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to make abolition of slavery an official aim of the Union war effort. August 21 – The Vienna Stadtpark opens its gates. August 28–30 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run – Confederate forces inflict a crushing defeat on Union General John Pope. August 29–30 – American Civil War: Battle of Richmond, Kentucky – Confederate forces, led by General Edmund Kirby Smith, inflict a crushing defeat on Union General William "Bull" Nelson. September 1 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his forces in an attack on retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia, driving them away. September 2 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command, after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. September 5 – American Civil War: In the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia, into Maryland. September 10 – Francisco Solano López is appointed second President of Paraguay. September 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Antietam: Union forces strategically defeat Confederate troops at Sharpsburg,