Showing results for "North Anna"
From the ECW YouTube Page: Along the North Anna River
The 159th anniversary of the battle along the North Anna is underway. The armies left Spotsylvania on May 21 and squared off along the North Anna through the night of May 26. Because ECW’s Chris Mackowski has a thing for North Anna (he did write Strike Them a Blow, after all), we have a lot […]
Read more...What If James Longstreet Had Been at the North Anna River?
I’ve long maintained that James Longstreet’s wounding in the Wilderness had a bigger negative impact on the Army of Northern Virginia in the immediate moment than the wounding of Stonewall Jackson a year earlier at Chancellorsville. In fact, the wounding of Jackson when it happened may have been the most fortuitous accident that could have […]
Read more...A Poor Southern Yarn and the What-Ifs of North Anna
My grandmother always told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That’s been some pretty good advice. I’ve learned to often employ strategic silence. While such silence is generally golden, on occasion, it can be problematic. Take, for instance, an otherwise excellent review in America’s Civil War of […]
Read more...“One of those incidents characteristic of war,” along the North Anna
I’ve been finalizing this week the much-delayed updates to Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River. (Finally! You’re welcome to read about my woes with the book here.) “The North Anna is an exceedingly picturesque river, abounding in beautiful scenery,” wrote Alexander Gardner in his Photographic Sketchbook; “the old mills of Jericho […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: Facebook LIVE Along the North Anna
Join ECW historians Bert Dunkerly and Chris Mackowski for a Facebook LIVE history chat from the Jericho Mills battlefield along the North Anna River. Bert is a ranger with Richmond National Battlefield, which is hosting the event, and ECW has the privilege of serving as co-host! The North Anna River represented Robert E. Lee’s last […]
Read more...North Anna Trail Map
This past Sunday marked the 156th anniversary of James Ledlie’s doomed assault against the formidable Confederate earthworks below the North Anna, where Emerging Civil War’s Chris Mackowski recently recorded a video tour of the battlefield. Portions of this ground are well preserved by Hanover County, with over five miles of trails and twenty-three wayside exhibits […]
Read more...A Walk Around North Anna Battlefield Park
On this date, May 24, 1864, a drunken Brig. Gen. James Ledlie led his brigade against heavily fortified Confederate works at Ox Ford on the North Anna River. Today, much of that area is preserved and maintained by Hanover County. To commemorate the anniversary, take a video tour of North Anna Battlefield Park with me:
Read more...A Walk Around the Fox House at North Anna
On this date, May 23, in 1864, Ulysses S. Grant rudely interrupted an afternoon glass of buttermilk Robert E. Lee was enjoying on the porch of the Fox house, just south of the North Anna River. By the end of the day, a Confederate staffer would be buried under a pile of chimney bricks. Recently, […]
Read more...Missed Opportunities in the Race to the North Anna
On the evening of May 20, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant sent Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps south from Spotsylvania Court House to Massaponnax Church, with orders to march onward toward Bowling Green, Milford Station, and—if Hancock thought he could make it—all the way to the Confederate rail hub at Hanover Junction, south of the North […]
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