Category Archives: Personalities

Question of the Week: February 23

Posted on February 23, 2015 by

This week’s question comes from Chris Kolakowski: Throughout my career I have drawn great lessons and inspiration from historical personalities and events. From the Civil War, General Grant’s campaign against Vicksburg stands out for me in this regard. What Civil War … Continue reading →

Posted in Personalities, Question of the Week | Tagged | 8 Comments

Rebels Down Under

Posted on February 19, 2015 by

Today, we are pleased to welcome back guest author Dwight Hughes. Part One in a Series. One hundred fifty years ago this month, the CSS Shenandoah steamed into Hobson’s Bay, Melbourne, Australia with flag flying. Vessels large and small saluted … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigns, Civil War Events, Leadership--Confederate, Navies, Newspapers, Personalities, Sesquicentennial | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Got Them Master’s Degree Reconstruction Blues!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by

It is one thing to be a Civil War buff, and another to get a Master’s degree in Military History. When I decided to write a biography of Elmer Ellsworth, I envisioned the inside flap of the book jacket. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Federal, Memory, Personalities | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

The Swamp Lizard Gets His Nickname

Posted on February 16, 2015 by

As the second week of February, 1865 opened Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s armies were nearing the South Carolina capitol, Columbia.  Since leaving Savannah, the Yankees had covered well over one hundred miles. In the course of their trek, the armies had crossed … Continue reading →

Posted in Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Campaigns, Civil War Events, Common Soldier, Leadership--Federal, Memory, Personalities, Sesquicentennial | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Man’s Best Comrade: Sallie and the 11th Pennsylvania

Posted on February 6, 2015 by

The Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry received a welcome visitor to their camp in West Chester in May of 1861. Their presence on the county fair grounds twenty miles west of Philadelphia had been a novelty to its citizens who came out in packs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Monuments, Personalities, Sesquicentennial | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

In Memory of Harry Pfanz

Posted on February 6, 2015 by

The Civil War community lost a giant late last month. Harry Pfanz, former chief historian for Gettysburg National Military Park, passed away on January 27 after a long illness. He was 93. (Read his obituary in The Gettysburg Times.) Few … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, National Park Service, Personalities | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Weight of a Year

Posted on February 5, 2015 by

Working on the layout for Bert Dunkerly’s upcoming To the Bitter End, I was searching for a photo of President Lincoln from 1865. As I sorted through the Library of Congress’s stash, I came across a pair of photos taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Emerging Civil War Series, Leadership--Federal, Personalities, Photography | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

A Conversation with Cartographer Hal Jespersen

Posted on February 3, 2015 by

By ECW Correspondent Jason Klaiber In 2003, Hal Jespersen stumbled upon Michael Shaara’s novel The Killer Angels. The book, which had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975, tells a tale from the viewpoints of men belonging to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Authors, Emerging Civil War Series, Personalities | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Question of the Week: January 26, 2015

Posted on January 26, 2015 by

I’m sure I’m not the only person who got the Civil War Sesquicentennial tumbler set for Christmas. The set contains glasses with four Confederates (Davis, Lee, Jackson, and Stuart) and four Federals (Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and McClellan). 

Posted in Holidays, Leadership--Confederate, Leadership--Federal, Memory, Personalities, Ties to the War | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Fleeting Fame: Union Colonel John Fitzroy De Courcy

Posted on January 25, 2015 by

It is not unusual for the commander of a defeated force to get sacked. Nor is it unusual for such a commander to suffer additional consequences, if that defeat is particularly egregious, or seems to involve an overly ripe degree … Continue reading →

Posted in Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Leadership--Federal, Personalities, Western Theater | Tagged | 6 Comments