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Author Archives: Edward S. Alexander
Bittersweet Appomattox
First Lieutenant Robert Pratt belonged to the 5th Vermont Infantry, a regiment that rightfully claimed credit as the first unit to irreparably break the Confederate lines southwest of Petersburg on April 2, 1865. Pratt played a pivotal role in the … Continue reading
ECW Weekender: Spot Where A.P. Hill Was Killed
It’s a bold claim to set in stone that you are on the exact spot of a historic event. In 1912 the Sons of Confederate Veterans felt confident enough in their research on the death of Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, ECW Weekender, Leadership--Confederate, Monuments
Tagged A.P. Hill, Breakthrough at Petersburg, Civil War Trust, Daniel Wolford, ECW Weekender, George W. Tucker, John W. Mauk, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Virginia Historical Highway Marker Program
1 Comment
Stolen Pie, but a Bigger Prize for Sergeant Young at Petersburg
Today is the favorite holiday for math teachers. March Fourteenth (3-14) represents the first three numbers in the mathematical constant pi. I’ve been using pi (3.14159…) a lot more than I had anticipated as a historian. Each time I rescale … Continue reading
Celebrate the Expected Capture of Richmond with a New Stove!
I found this humorous newspaper article while searching through historic Vermont newspapers. Burlington entrepreneur J.B. Wardell hoped to cash in on the public’s joy at what he anticipated to be the end of the Civil War by attaching that jubilation … Continue reading
Another Courier’s Perspective: William Henry Jenkins and the Death of A.P. Hill
Earlier this week I shared some new information discovered about William Bennett Kirkpatrick, a previously unidentified courier who relayed A.P. Hill’s last message to his Third Corps headquarters on April 2, 1865. Within the hour, Corporal John Watson Mauk shot … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Common Soldier, Newspapers, Primary Sources
Tagged Ambrose Powell Hill, Breakthrough at Petersburg, Charles S. Venable, couriers, Death of A.P. Hill, George Percy Hawes, George W. Tucker, National Tribune, Petersburg, Southern Historical Society Papers, William B. Kirkpatrick, William H. Jenkins
5 Comments
Identifying “Courier Kirkpatrick” on A.P. Hill’s Last Ride
Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill was killed in the aftermath of the successful Union attack near Petersburg on the morning of April 2, 1865. Sergeant George Washington Tucker, Jr., the general’s chief of couriers, was the only Confederate present at … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Common Soldier, Leadership--Confederate, Newspapers, Primary Sources
Tagged A.P. Hill, ancestry.com, Breakthrough at Petersburg, couriers, Death of A.P. Hill, Fold3.com, John W. Mauk, Newspapers.com, Petersburg Campaign, Southern Historical Society Papers, William B. Kirkpatrick
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Centennial Shad Bake
Chris Mackowski’s recent post about George Pickett’s culinary legacy reminded me of seeing a few newspaper articles that featured cooking shad while researching the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the battle of Five Forks. None of those articles were … Continue reading
“Shoot and Be Damned”: Lawrence Berry at Fort Gregg
For a few early afternoon hours on April 2, 1865, three hundred Mississippi infantrymen and a pair of gun crews from the Washington Artillery of New Orleans clung to Fort Gregg as they held back two full XXIV Corps divisions. … Continue reading
Struck by a Fired Ramrod, Part 3: Who Shot Major Ellis?
This is part three of a three-part series. Part one. Part two. For decades after William Ellis’s death, his story concluded for all but his mother. Later that month, August 1864, the already widowed Catharine Ellis began the process of … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Common Soldier, Medical, Monuments, Newspapers
Tagged 16th Mississippi Infantry, 49th New York Infantry, 95th Pennsylvania Infantry, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Bloody Angle, G. Norton Galloway, John G. Darrah, monuments, Pensions, ramrod, Richard T. Owen, Spotsylvania, Struck by a Fired Ramrod, Thomas T. Roche, Wiley Sword, William Ellis
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