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Author Archives: Chris Mackowski
The Evening Smoke and Armchair Generalling After Mine Run
On the evening of December 2, the Army of the Potomac settled back into its camps around Brandy Station and Culpeper, exactly where they’d departed from just a week earlier. The baffling—and frigid—events of the campaign weighed fresh on their … Continue reading
From Lee’s Side of Mine Run
The story of Mine Run is generally remembered thus: The Army of the Potomac found themselves facing a strongly fortified Confederate position that was so formidable, George Gordon Meade declined to attack and, instead, retreated back to the far side … Continue reading
Robinson’s Tavern Today
In 2017, I wrote a post, “The Mine Run Campaign Comes to Locust Grove,” that offered historical and modern views of the former Robinson’s Tavern intersection along modern Route 20. Today, a reader responding to that post expressed disappointment that … Continue reading
Deconstructing Meade’s Decision at Mine Run
On the morning of November 30, 1863, Gouverneur K. Warren awoke to a surprise. The evening before, he had positioned nearly half of the Army of the Potomac on the far Confederate right, poised for an attack at 8:00 the … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Leadership--Federal
Tagged George Gordon Meade, Gouverneur K. Warren, Mine Run
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Facebook LIVE from Payne’s Farm 155
Today is the 155th anniversary of the battle of Payne’s Farm, the most significant action of the Mine Run Campaign. I had the chance to commemorate the day with the American Battlefield Trust out in the field and on Facebook … Continue reading
A New Find for New Hope Church
It’s always fun to find new tidbits in the course of research, and while working on my new book about the Mine Run campaign, I found a particularly cool piece that I was excited to share. This image, a watercolor … Continue reading
ECW Weekender: Macon County (NC) Historical Museum
When I hear “Macon,” I typically think of Georgia, but there’s a Macon County in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, right along the Georgia border. “It has a rich, well-documented history,” says the Macon County Historical Society, “and unlike … Continue reading
Thanksgiving 1863: A “vivid contrast” between home and the front
In 1863, Thanksgiving fell on November 26. That morning, as the rest of the country was preparing for roast turkey and fat puddings and homemade pies, the Army of the Potomac, encamped around Brandy Station, Virginia, rumbled to life for … Continue reading
The Great Battle is Here
I am always excited when a box of new books shows up on my back porch. The UPS deliveryman shows up like Santa Claus and drops off the books. Somehow, he manages to do it without making the dog bark. … Continue reading
A Conversation with Brian Steel Wills about Inglorious Passages (part two)
(part two of two) I’m talking with historian Brian Steel Wills, author of one of my favorite Civil War books from last year, Inglorious Passages: Noncombat Deaths in the American Civil War. Inglorious Passages received the Harwell Award at the … Continue reading
