Showing results for "Dranesville"
Dranesville, a Troubled Town: Part 2
Part One Can Be Found Here. The white men of Virginia went to the polls on a warm May 23, 1861 to vote on the secession referendum passed a month earlier by a delegates’ convention. By the time the ballots were counted, the secessionists outvoted the Unionists by almost 100,000 ballots.[1] In Fairfax County there […]
Read more...Pennsylvania Militia Experience “An Awful Sight” at the Antietam Battlefield
In the Fall of 1862, the threat of invasion loomed large for the citizens of southcentral Pennsylvania. With General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on their doorstep, on September 4, 1862, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin issued a proclamation, calling on the citizens of the Commonwealth “to arm and prepare for defense.”[1] Less than […]
Read more...ECW’s January 2022 Newsletter Now Available
If you’re looking for the latest news from Emerging Civil War, our January 2022 newsletter went out today via the digital lightning. If you’re a subscriber, check your inboxes. If not, you should be! In the meantime, you can access it here. In this issue:
Read more...Week In Review: December 20-26, 2021
We hope you’re having a nice holiday season! This week was full of historical Christmas accounts, a few book reviews, and lots of “seasons greetings.” Here’s the Week in Review, in case you missed any of the festive fun. Monday, December 20: Question of the Week examined narrative writers of history. Neil P. Chatelain shared […]
Read more...Week In Review: October 18-24, 2021
The series “First Experiences Under Fire” continued this week and other highlights included posts for the historic anniversaries of Cedar Creek and Ball’s Bluff. Monday, October 18: Question of the Week asked about your autumn reading list. Under Fire: Sarah Kay Bierle posted an account from A.F. Shaw’s reminiscence in the 4th Georgia Cavalry.
Read more...Under Fire: “Seemed to Forget that He Was an Officer, and Gave No Commands Whatever”
When the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves formed in the spring of 1861, its men and officers elected William W. Ricketts as its colonel. The 24-year-old was a solid choice; he had attended West Point and though he hadn’t graduated, opting for medical college instead, Ricketts “possessed a most decided military genius,” a contemporary described. “He had […]
Read more...In the Wake of Ball’s Bluff
In his diary on October 22, 1862, John Haley of the 17th Maine recounted his experience camping near the Ball’s Bluff battlefield a year after the battle: “[W]e were sent on picket on a strip of land between the Potomac and the Baltimore & Ohio Canal, nearly opposite Ball’s Bluff, a place of most unhappy […]
Read more...The Pink Confederate Battle Flags
ECW welcomes back guest author Bryan Cheeseboro In a recent conversation I had with a friend, we discussed the painting The First Battle Flags by Don Troiani, which depicts the events of November 28, 1861, at Centreville, Virginia. On that date, the Confederate Army of the Potomac (the same army that would eventually become the […]
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