Showing results for "First Manassas"
Book Review: Burnside’s Boys: The Union Army’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East
Burnside’s Boys: The Union Army’s Ninth Corps and the Civil War in the East. By Darin Wipperman. Essex, CT: Stackpole Books, 2023. 528 pp. $34.95. Reviewed by Doug Crenshaw Darin Wipperman has produced a much needed and interesting account of the often-maligned Union Ninth Corps. Starting a bit slowly, the book begins to really pick […]
Read more...Civil War Surprises: McClellan’s Surprises
George McClellan had a plan. Having taken command of the remnants of the Federal army after its defeat at Bull Run, he fashioned it into a powerful, well-organized and supplied force. President Lincoln and his administration witnessed this and consistently hammered the general with demands to take the massive army to the field, face Confederate […]
Read more...From Camp Servants to Soldiers – Part III
When part of the Army of the Potomac occupied Fredericksburg from April 1862, until the following September, and then when the full army arrived again that winter, many of the area’s enslaved used these opportunities to make their way into the lines and gain their freedom. Probably the best known Fredericksburg freedom seeker, due largely […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: Historic Warrenton, Virginia
A couple weeks ago I spent a few hours in historic downtown Warrenton in central Virginia. The town is rich with layers of history and many Civil War stories since it changed hands at least 67 times. Warrenton’s history stretches back to the Colonial era when the junction of the Falmouth-Winchester Road and the Alexandria-Culpeper […]
Read more...Book Review: Decisions of the Maryland Campaign
ECW welcomes guest author John Michael Priest. Over the past thirty years historians have increasingly begun to write about the Maryland Campaign of 1862. The studies range from publishing primary accounts of the campaign to overview books for the general public, to analytical studies of the generals’ tactics and plans of operation. Michael S. Lang’s […]
Read more...The US Marine Corps’ Greatest Defeat … and Greatest Defiant Act in the Civil War
It is rare to for United States Marines to lay down their arms. There have only been a handful of large-scale Marine Corps surrenders, almost all during the US entrance into World War Two. The Fourth Marine Regiment laid down its arms when Army General Jonathan Wainwright ordered Corregidor’s surrender in the Philippines in 1942. […]
Read more...BookChat: James Longstreet and the American Civil War by Harold Knudsen
It’s the 159th anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga—a good showing by Jimmy Longstreet, so a good day to talk a little about a new book by Harold M. Knudsen, James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War, published by Savas Beatie. (You can find out more about […]
Read more...“Here I am . . . a Prisoner:” The Capture of Walt Whitman’s Brother
Siblings sometimes produce interesting relationships. In many cases, the younger moves through childhood and into the teen years aspiring to be like the elder. I know that, personally, although my older brother and I fought like cats and dogs growing up, a large part of the conflict was due to my petty jealousy of his […]
Read more...Fighting in Slippers: Longstreet at Antietam
In September 1862, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River and into Maryland for the first time. It was an effort to capitalize on a summer of stunning Confederate successes in the Eastern Theater, spanning from the Shenandoah Valley to the James River Peninsula to northern Virginia. […]
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