Showing results for "Wilderness"
“Good bye from your soger boy”: One Last Letter before the Wilderness
Sometimes he signed his letters “with affection” or “good-night” or “good-bye.” Sometimes he wrote his full name, other times just initials, sometimes with the familiar name to his family and friends: “Will.” Most of his correspondence went to his younger sister “Jennie” and was addressed to the family home in Sebec, Maine. Will had left […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: 1781 Brewery & Wilderness Run Vineyards
1781? That’s a Revolutionary War date! Why is it on a Civil War blog? Hold your horses – let us explain, and maybe you’ll be planning a trip to this brewery (and winery) and historic location. During the Fifth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium in August, we hosted a Saturday night hang-out at this brewery […]
Read more...Beauty in the Wilderness
Irises in bloom at Ellwood, on the Wilderness battlefield May 10, 2018
Read more...Lincoln, Shakespeare, and the Wilderness
“My God! My God! twenty thousand poor souls sent to their final account in one day,” President Lincoln lamented after the battle of the Wilderness. “I cannot bear it! I cannot bear it!”
Read more...The Wilderness in Snapshots
To commemorate the anniversary of the battle of the Wilderness, we asked for some help from our friend Joe Lafleur. Joe is a volunteer with the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, and he’s always out and about on the field, all year ’round. During his explorations, he often shares with us photos of some of the […]
Read more...Writing the Wilderness and Reflecting
It’s 46° in Spotsylvania County, but the morning clouds have marched away and the blue-sky sun makes it feel more like sixty. To the west, another line of gray clouds hangs over the Blue Ridge Mountains like a haze of forest fire smoke. I’m passing through the Wilderness. By habit, I refer to it as […]
Read more...Grant, the Wilderness, and the Loneliness of Command
On the evening of May 6, 1864, Lieutenant General U.S. Grant considered the day’s events. The Battle of the Wilderness had just ended its second day, and Grant’s forces had been beaten and battered in a way he’d never seen. Both his flanks had been driven in, and panic had set in among some of […]
Read more...ECW on C-SPAN: Longstreet in the Wilderness
The next installment from the Third Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge airs this weekend on C-SPAN 3. The Battle of the Wilderness and Longstreet’s Counterattack, presented by Kris White, will air Saturday night at 6:00 p.m., Eastern. https://www.c-span.org/video/?413642-2/battle-wilderness-longstreets-counterattack Also, the “Great Attacks” panel will re-airs Sunday at 1:25 p.m. Eastern, and then Monday […]
Read more...“Was Taken Prisoner”: A Pennsylvanian in the Wilderness and Andersonville
On May 5, 1864, my wife’s great-great-great grandfather, Levi Bowen, was wounded and taken prisoner in the Battle of the Wilderness. By the spring of 1864, Levi, a member of Company H, 7th Pennsylvania Reserves was a seasoned veteran. In fact, he had been wounded and captured once before, at the Battle of Glendale. Fortunately, […]
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