Henry W. Halleck Archives

Henry W. Halleck

Civil War Weapons: The Telegraph?

By Jim Haviland

Early in the American Civil War, during the first months of 1862, Union General Henry Halleck, commanding from his headquarters in St. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

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

Henry W. Halleck

War So Terrible: The Battle of Fredericksburg

By Arnold Blumberg

Word spread like wildfire through the camps of the Army of the Potomac during the second week of November 1862: “Little Mac” was out, “Old Burn” was in. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

The Crime At Pickett’s Mill

By Roy Morris, Jr.

Peering through the thick underbrush west of Little Pumpkin Vine Creek, 30 miles northwest of Atlanta, on the afternoon of May 27, 1864, Ambrose Bierce had a bad feeling. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

The Death of a Legend: The Battle of Yellow Tavern

By Arnold Blumberg

“We have been badly used up,” a sergeant in the 5th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment complained in a letter to his wife on May 8, 1864, four days before J.E.B. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

Alfred Duffie: A ‘Napoleon’ in the Civil War

By Arnold Blumberg

Napoleon Alexandre Duffie was born on May 1, 1833, in Paris, France. His father, Jean August Duffie, was a prosperous sugar refiner and mayor of the village of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

Making “The Ors”: The 138,579-Page Official History of the Civil War

By Stephen D. Lutz

The title of the 128-book, 138,579-page work was a suitably large mouthful: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

The Grand Review of 1865

By William Stroock

Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, presaging the subsequent surrender of other Confederate forces in the West and the capture of Southern President Jefferson Davis a few weeks later, marked the triumphant end of the nation’s great sundering. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

The Disastrous Red River Campaign

By Michael E. Haskew

Nathaniel Banks was a political creature, and with his country in the throes of civil war, he now held the politically obtained rank of major general in the Union Army. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

Misbegotten Attack at Bristoe Station

By Arnold Blumberg

In late July 1863, after the conclusion of the Gettysburg campaign, the Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Read more

In what is considered an accurate depiction by artist Tom Lovell of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, Virginia, Horace Porter stands immediately to General Grant’s right.

Henry W. Halleck

Medal of Honor Awardee Horace Porter’s Astonishing Career

By Richard H. Owens, Ph.D.

Horace Porter was born April 15, 1837 in Huntingdon, Pa. He traced his ancestry and family motto, “Vigilantia et virtute,” to William De La Grange, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. Read more

Henry W. Halleck

Blood on the Snow: The Battle of Nashville

By John Walker

For the black-skinned, blue-clad soldiers deployed on the extreme left flank of the Union Army outside Nashville, Tennessee, the order to advance announced at dawn on December 15, 1864, was a long time coming. Read more