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Author Archives: Chris Kolakowski
Civil War Echoes: A Death in Ireland
Britain’s Prime Minister during the Civil War years was Henry John Temple, the 3d Viscount Palmerston. His grandfather received a grant of land in County Sligo, Ireland on the Mullaghmore Peninsula, which overlooked an inlet that fed into the Atlantic … Continue reading
Posted in Personalities, Politics, Ties to the War
Tagged Burma, Classiebawn Castle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Mountbatten, Palmerston
3 Comments
General Ward and the Ever Victorious Army
North America was not the only place roiled by Civil War in the early 1860s – China was undergoing its own civil war in the eastern provinces around Shanghai, known as the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). The rebellion climaxed in the … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Arms & Armaments, Battles, Leadership--Federal, Personalities, Sieges
Tagged China, Chinese Gordon, Crimean War, Ever Victorious Army, Filibuster Army, Frederick Townsend Ward, Henry Burgevine, Massachusetts, mercenaries, Ningbo, Norwich University, Philippines, Salem, Shanghai, soldiers from Massachusetts, Taiping Rebellion
5 Comments
My Favorite Historical Person: George H. Thomas & David G. Farragut
Two Civil War people I’ve admired for a long time are George H. Thomas and David G. Farragut.
Posted in Leadership--Federal
Tagged Admiral David G. Farragut, favorite17, George Henry Thomas, Leadership
2 Comments
Chris Kolakowski: Leadership Makes the Difference on New Year’s Eve 1862
We’re two months away from the Fourth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge (Aug. 4-6). We’ve asked each of our speakers to share with us a story related to the topic they’ll be presenting as part of our … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Leadership--Confederate, Leadership--Federal, Symposium
Tagged Army of the Cumberland, Braxton Bragg, Chris Kolakowski, Fourth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, Leadership, Stones River, Symposium 2017, Symposium Spotlight, Symposium Spotlight 2017, William Rosecrans
4 Comments
Bivouacs of the Dead
When touring battlefields on my own or leading a group, I always try and stop by the cemeteries that are there – both to meet the men but also to reflect on the events. I try to do this whether … Continue reading
Posted in Antebellum South, Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Common Soldier, Lincoln, Memory, Mexican War, Monuments, Ties to the War
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Belgium, Bivouac of the Dead, Burma, cemeteries, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Fredericksburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg Address, In Flanders Fields, India, John McCrae, Kohima, Mexican War, Mexican-American War, National cemeteries, The Bivouac of the Dead, Theodore O'Hara, World War I, World War II
6 Comments
The Great Naval Leaders
On May 10 I lectured about the Battle of Midway to Old Dominion University’s Institute of Learning in Retirement. Over the course of a wonderful discussion, I assessed one of the U.S. commanders, Raymond Spruance, as “one of the greatest … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership--Federal, Navies, Personalities, Ties to the War, Trans-Mississippi, Western Theater
Tagged Admiral David G. Farragut, Battle of Lake Erie, Battle of Mobile Bay, Battle of Perryville, David Dixon Porter, David Farragut, David Porter, Fall of New Orleans, Fort Fisher, George Dewey, Lake Erie, Manila, Midway, Mobile Bay, Okinawa, Oliver Hazard Perry, Perryville, Philippine Sea, Raymond Spruance, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, Red River Campaign, U.S. Grant, U.S. Navy, Vicksburg Campaign, War of 1812, World War II
9 Comments
God Save the Union? U.S. Civil War Pensions for Her Majesty’s Subjects, 1883
One of the military history groups I belong to on LinkedIn posted this link this week, showing details about British/United Kingdom deaths in the Civil War and widows who were receiving U.S. pensions in 1883. There were far more of … Continue reading
Civil War Echoes: The Fall of Corregidor
75 years ago today, Corregidor and the fortified islands of Manila Bay surrendered to the Japanese. Formal resistance ended throughout the Philippines soon thereafter. The Civil War echoes in these events through Corregidor’s commander, Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright IV. … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging Civil War
2 Comments
Civil War Echoes: The Fall of Bataan
Today 75 years ago, Major General Edward P. King surrendered 76,000 American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. This is far and away the largest capitulation in American military history. Bataan’s fall is also rife with … Continue reading
