Civil War
When Confederate General Robert E. Lee learned on the morning of April 9, 1865, that Union infantry was both in front and behind of his meager army of 12,500 effectives as it approached Appomattox Court House in central Virginia, he resigned himself to the sad task before him. Read more
Civil War
The River Mersey was fog shrouded on the morning of November 6, 1865, and the city of Liverpool was scarcely visible from the deck of the CSS Shenandoah. Read more
Civil War
Twenty-five-year-old Mississippi River pilot Samuel Clemens (not yet known by his famous pen name, Mark Twain) was in his home port of New Orleans in late January 1861 when word reached the city that Louisiana had seceded from the Union. Read more
Civil War
Living in Chattanooga is a little like living inside a museum. American Civil War reminders are all around: many of us remember going as students on field trips to Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield and spending long Sunday afternoons driving with our families along the winding, monument-strewn Crest Road on Missionary Ridge. Read more
Civil War
As the early days of the Civil War were unfolding and the destiny of the republic was beginning to be contested on the battlefield, Abraham Lincoln was engaged in a no less perilous type of battle. Read more
Civil War
Like the tall hills that surround it, the history of Harpers Ferry has many layers. While some of the nearby Civil War battlefields, most notably Antietam National Battlefield, are picturesque, they can’t compete with the grandeur of Harpers Ferry. Read more
Civil War
A single cavalryman burst from the copse in mid-afternoon on June 25, 1876, riding hell-bent for the swift flowing river. Read more
Civil War
Major John M. Chivington, Colorado’s “fighting parson,” played a large role in the Union victory at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in 1862. Read more
Civil War
The soldiers of the two armies at Fort Donelson awoke on the morning of February 15, 1862, to another frigid morning. Read more
Civil War
After escaping from Brig. Gen. William H. Jackson’s Confederate division on April 1, Union Brig. Gen. John T. Read more
Civil War
The weary Union foot soldiers tramped north toward Goldsboro the morning of March 19, 1865. Foragers who had gone out at sunup reported the heavy presence of Confederate cavalry on the route of march. Read more
Civil War
The Rebels sensed victory over Yankees on the crisp late winter morning in northwest Arkansas. They had driven off the Union cavalry that tried to block their advance into battle and captured a battery in the process. Read more
Civil War
John M. Chivington was a prominent military commander during the American Civil War in the West. Initially an ordained Methodist Minister, Chivington would abuse his position as a military commander, leading the federal government to condemn his actions as an officer of the United States Military. Read more
Civil War
To the rebel pickets manning the trenches in the so-called Mule Shoe of the Confederate earthworks at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse the sound of hundreds of tramping feet could be heard above the steady rain on the morning of May 12, 1864. Read more
Civil War
Gray waves of infantry emerging from the dark woods on both sides of the Orange Turnpike stampeded startled Yankees on the Federal right flank on May 2, 1863. Read more
Civil War
When Mark Twain “lit out for the territory” in July 1861 from his erstwhile role as the world’s worst Confederate ranger, he joined a small but distinguished list of future American literary greats who similarly decided, as had Twain, that they were “not rightly equipped for this awful business.” Read more
Civil War
Dawn on July 1, 1862, ushered in a hot summer day. After having assumed the offensive five days earlier, General Robert E. Read more
Civil War
Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was prone to dithering. The vanguard of his 120,000-strong Union Army had arrived in Falmouth on the north bank of the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg on November 14, 1862. Read more
Civil War
While many Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians threw in their lot with the Confederacy, fighting alongside southern troops at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, a more northern-based tribe—the Ottawa—chose to remain loyal to the Union, in the forlorn hope that its willingness to fight for the white men’s country would help preserve its increasingly imperiled way of life. Read more
Civil War
The gray-clad Virginia infantry marched quickly through the woods. In the distance they could hear the familiar rattle of musketry signaling an encounter with the enemy. Read more
