Confederate Army Archives

Confederate Army

First Manassas: The Battle of Bull Run

By Earl Echelberry

On March 4, 1861, with war clouds threatening the land, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the 16th president of the United States. Read more

Federals shoot at Rebel cavalrymen attempting to overwhelm a supply train. The deeper Union armies penetrated into the Southern heartland, the longer and more vulnerable their supply lines. Confederates went after them with gusto and not just to hurt Northern armies; they could luxuriate for a time on the food, clothing, and ammunition they captured.

Confederate Army

Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler’s 1863 Sequatchie Valley Raid

By Arnold Blumberg

During the evening of September 20,1863, the following message reached Washington and was given to the president of the United States: “We have met with a serious disaster; extent not yet ascertained. Read more

The CSS Virginia blasts the USS Cumberland. John Wood was a major factor in the Virginia’s success. Throughout the war he used scarce resources to advantage for the Confederate cause.

Confederate Army

John Taylor Wood, Hero of the Confederate Navy

By James M. Powles

The epic battle between the Virginia (Merrimack) and Monitor might never have taken place because, as strange as it may seem, the Confederates did not have enough experienced men to man their ship. Read more

Confederate Army

Union Disaster: The Battle of Thompson’s Station

By Robert L. Durham

The winter of 1863 was a time of general inactivity for the exhausted armies in middle Tennessee. Read more

Confederate Army

The Battle of Pea Ridge: Showdown in the Ozarks

By Joshua Van Dereck

For three weeks in February 1862, Union Brig. Gen. Samuel Curtis led his Army of the Southwest on a 200-mile advance southward across the Ozark plateau in Missouri and into northern Arkansas. Read more

Confederate Army

The Short-range Shotgun

By Christopher Miskimon

Coming upon the enemy’s rear guard outside the western Kentucky village of Sacramento, four days after Christmas 1861, Confederate Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest ordered his cavalry to advance. Read more

Confederate Army

Uniform: The 8th Texas Cavalry

By Don Troiani & William Welsh

Colonel Benjamin F. Terry, a sugar planter from Fort Bend County on the coastal plains of Texas, raised the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment. Read more

Confederate Army

Peach Orchard Bloodbath: Day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg

By Mike Phifer

On July 2, the day of the Battle of Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard conflict, Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Read more

The ferocity of that single day of fighting and the haphazard means by which graves were arranged has made the Antietam death toll hard to truly measure.

Confederate Army

The 1862 Battle of Antietam: Casualties and Death Toll

By Mike Haskew

During the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, casualties piled almost too high to count. The culmination of the first invasion of the North during the American Civil War by General Robert E. Read more

Confederate Army

Francis Stebbins Bartow at First Manassas

By Brian C. Pohanka

During the Battle of First Manassas, Colonel Francis Stebbins Bartow was carrying the flag of the 7th Georgia Infantry when he fell leading a charge on Captain James Ricketts’ battery of Regular Army artillery. Read more

Confederate Army

Robert E. Lee: Confederate Icon

by Mike Haskew

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

Confederate Army

Ulysses S. Grant: Union War Hero

by Mike Haskew

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

Confederate Army

John Bell Hood at the Battle of Gettysburg

By Don Williams

Ward’s Union Brigade faced some of the most formidable troops in General Robert E. Lee’s army on the afternoon of July 2. Read more

Confederate Army

Flanks vs. Frontal Attacks: Meade and Lee’s Tactics

by Robert Suhr

All day on July 4, 1863 the Union and Confederate armies stared at each other during the Battle of Gettysburg. Read more

Although Stonewall Jackson’s death was unpreventable, given the state of medicine at the time, it is more likely that he died from thromboembolism than from the indirect cause of pneumonia.

Confederate Army

Robert E. Lee’s “Right Arm”

Following his greatest victory, at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was scouting ahead of the lines with members of his staff when tragedy struck. Read more

Confederate Army

The Confederate Army: Letters Home

by Earl Echelberry

On May 10, 1861 the Confederate Secretary of War, L.P. Walker, assigned “control of the forces of the Confederate States in Virginia” to Maj. Read more

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest rose from the ranks to become a daring and audacious cavalry commander during the American Civil War.

Confederate Army

Legendary Cavalry Commander Nathan Bedford Forrest

By Mike Haskew

Prior to the American Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest amassed a fortune in real estate, agriculture, and the slave trade. Read more

Confederate Army

Union General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea

By Mike Haskew

Union General William T. Sherman was a friend and trusted subordinate of General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Union armies in the field during the Civil War. Read more

Confederate Army

Black Thursday at Sayler’s Creek

By David A. Norris

Four hundred Confederate sailors and marines, their small arms loaded and ready, awaited their orders. Some men had their cutlasses within easy reach. Read more