Army of the Potomac

The 5th U.S. Cavalry: “A Hard Duty” at Gaines Mill

The celebrated 2nd U.S. Cavalry, like its brother regiment the 1st U.S. Cavalry, was formally created by an act of Congress in March 1855. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Mowed Down by the Fifties

As Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his I Corps commander, Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, rode together on horseback along the dust-choked Quaker Road from Glendale to Malvern Hill on the morning of July 1, 1862,  they stopped to confer with Maj. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Pickett’s Charge: “We Gained Nothing But Glory”

By Eric Niderost

July 3, 1863, dawned clear and bright, the warm sun promising even greater heat to come. By noon, temperatures were already in the low 90s, a typically hot and humid summer day in southern Pennsylvania. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Longstreet’s Hammer Blow at Manassas

In the rolling fields on the south side of the Warrenton Turnpike, the men of the 5th New York of Colonel Gouverneur K. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Colonel Patrick Kelly at the Battle of Gettysburg

Colonel Patrick Kelly, who led the Irish Brigade into the Wheatfield on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, was born in Castle Hackett, County Galway, in 1821. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Robert E. Lee: Confederate Icon

When the Civil War broke out, Robert E. Lee of Virginia was offered command of the Union army. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Ulysses S. Grant: Union War Hero

Born in Ohio in 1822, Ulysses S. Grant graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1843. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Comparing the Battle of Gettysburg to the Entire Civil War

The occasion was, for the North, inauspicious. In the Battle of First Manassas, the Federals were routed, humiliated, and almost utterly crushed. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Woefully Unequipped For the American Civil War

When the American Civil War erupted in 1861 Iowa soldiers were equipped with old converted smoothbore flintlock muskets. Read more

Army of the Potomac

On This Day in History: The Battle of Cold Harbor

On June 12, 1864, the American Civil War Battle of Cold Harbor came to a close, which became one of the final battles in Ulysses S. Read more

Army of the Potomac

The Gallant 4th Army Regulars at the Battle of Gettysburg

When the American Civil War erupted in April 1861, the 10 companies of the 4th U.S. Infantry were spread along the West Coast from Puget Sound to the Gulf of California in various small, far-flung garrisons. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Civil War Quarterly Preview: General Phillip Sheridan and the Battle of Winchester

For General Philiip Sheridan, war was a tonic.

“He was a wonderful man on the battle field,” one of his fellow Union officers recalled, “and never in as good humor as when under fire.” Read more

Army of the Potomac

Photo Essay: Camping With the Union Army of the Potomac

The first camps assembled by the Union Army of the Potomac were tent cities, thrown together hastily as new regiments arrived from the free states. Read more

Army of the Potomac

A Murderous Order at Culp’s Hill

Although Union Colonel Silas Colgrove had previously led his men through some of the most horrific fighting in the eastern theater of the Civil War, the order he received on the morning of July 3, 1863, in the woods near Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg, was the most unnerving he had ever received. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and the Battle of the Wilderness

The year 1864 was shaping up to be a critical one in the American Civil War. During the previous year, Federal armies had gained control of the Mississippi River and consolidated their grip on Tennessee. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Union Balloon Corps

A week after the first shots of the War Between the States at Fort Sumter in April 1861, the future of warfare came to Appalachia. Read more

Army of the Potomac

The Battle of Rich Mountain

The blue-coated soldiers trudged uphill through the forest trying their best not to get snagged on the laurel branches or stumble over the tree roots. Read more

Army of the Potomac

Antietam National Battlefield to Receive Trump Donation

President Donald Trump has kept true to his pledge to donate his presidential income while in office, with the President’s first paycheck going, in full, to fund projects to maintain and restore the Antietam National Battlefield. Read more

Army of the Potomac

The Worst American Civil War Generals and Commanders

Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. After gaining ground trying to cut an escape path for the Confederates during the February 1862 siege of Fort Donelson by Union forces led Brig. Read more

Army of the Potomac

“Put the Boys In”: Confederate Cadets at the Battle of New Market

As the Civil War continued in the spring of 1864, a Shenandoah Valley resident lamented, “Our prospects look gloomy, very gloomy.” Read more