Showing results for "George B. McClellan"
My Favorite Historical Person: James Hanger
Emerging Civil War welcomes back guest author Kristen M. Trout As a Civil War historian, the toughest and most challenging question of all is “who is your favorite historical person?” From Union war heroes to gallant Rebel commanders to the common soldier to the near-million fallen troops of both sides, they all have unique, meaningful, […]
Read more...“General Magruder, why did you attack?”
Today, we’re pleased to welcome guest author Doug Crenshaw. Doug, a volunteer with Richmond National Battlefield, is at work on books for the Emerging Civil War Series about the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days’ Battles. On July 1, 1862, Maj. General John B. Magruder ordered Confederate troops in his sector forward into a hurricane […]
Read more...The Fog of War–When Modern Weather Gives Us a History Lesson
Col. Lonsdale Hale first coined the now oft-used phrase “fog of war” in 1896. He termed it as “the state of ignorance in which commanders frequently find themselves as regards the real strength and position, not only of their foes, but also of their friends.” Hale meant this figuratively, but there are times in war […]
Read more...Winfield Scott Reconsidered
On this day in 1841, precisely 175 years ago, Major General Winfield Scott became Commanding General of the U.S. Army. He held this post for 20 years and four months, longer than any other Commanding General or U.S. Army Chief of Staff to date, retiring as a Brevet Lieutenant General on November 1, 1861. To […]
Read more...“me and the bridge is safe”: The Pontoon Bridge at Rappahannock Station
Today, we are pleased to welcome back guest author Mike Block As the sun set behind the Blue Ridge Mountains about 5 P.M. on November 7, 1863, the 6th Maine Infantry and 5th Wisconsin Infantry began their climb up a steep hill to assault one of the two redoubts along the Tete-de pont on the […]
Read more...The East Room / April 20, 1865, 3:00 AM
It was only a still night if the weather was what counted. The White House, draped inside and out with mourning, was surrounded by military guards, and citizens who ranged from morbidly curious to brokenhearted.
Read more...Following Orders: from “your Obd’t Servant” to SMEAC and METT-T
The Battle of Gettysburg has produced no end of enduring controversies, discussions, and disputes. Recently, on one of the Facebook sites devoted to exploring that battle, one such discussion surfaced yet again. This time the question was about J.E.B. Stuart, and his famous ride. Was Stuart late? Did he disobey Robert E. Lee’s orders and […]
Read more...Long Abraham Lincoln a Little Longer: Soldier Voting in the Election of 1864 Pt. 4
Many Democrats were hoping that the men in the field, particularly those in the Army of the Potomac, would remain loyal to former commanding general George McClellan. They underestimated the ability of the Union soldier to analyze for himself just what a vote for the Democratic Peace Platform would mean–that everything he had fought and […]
Read more...Tenting Among the Dead
Many locations throughout Virginia witnessed multiple battles during the four years of civil war. The slope to Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg that seemed so insurmountable in December of 1862 again felt the tramp of Union attackers the following spring in a decisively successful charge. The Wilderness of Spotsylvania County muddled tactics and confused soldiers during […]
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