Showing results for "Vicksburg"
Sherman’s “Demon Spirit”
In a letter written on April 29, 1863, to his wife Ellen, William T. Sherman privately expressed his misgivings about the Vicksburg campaign Ulysses S. Grant was just then launching. “My own opinion is that this whole plan of attack on Vicksburg will fail must fail, and the fault will be on us all of […]
Read more...Town Between the Rivers: Cairo, Illinois
A blue-coated rider appeared atop the riverbank above the steamer Belle Memphis. Rebels massed in the cornfield behind him fired volleys that whistled by the horseman, whanged through the tall smokestacks, and thudded into the vessel’s superstructure. Hundreds of Iowa and Illinois infantry had slithered down the muddy incline and scrambled aboard to escape numerically […]
Read more...“He Stood the Operation Like A Soldier:” Lucius Davis
When we think of the Civil War, we need to look beyond just a few individual days. We need to look beyond Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, or even Appomattox. Often, we need even to look beyond 1865. The war changed livelihoods and lives irreparably, leaving lasting scars. One such story of lasting damage is the […]
Read more...On the Battlefield, Among the Dead and Dying, We Get to Know Each Other Better
Following the May 14, 1863, battle of Jackson, Mississippi, Private Osborn H. Oldroyd of the 20th Ohio had the chance to walk across the battlefield. His unit, part of Maj. Gen. John Logan’s division, did not get into the day’s fighting. Instead, they entered the city in the aftermath of battle, marching along the Clinton […]
Read more...Week In Review: January 3-10, 2021
This week we continued with the What We’ve Learned series which looks back to the Sesquicentennial, but you’ll also find some quickly added posts with historical perspective on the modern events which unfolded this week. Also, great posts about a regiment’s company, re-evaluating research at Antietam, emancipation, Confederate Irish Brigade, and more. Sunday, January 3: […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: Fridays with Grant
by Mike Movius When the miniseries Grant aired, the Civil War Round Table Congress discussed the possibility of developing a living history series with Dr. E. C. “Curt” Fields to capitalize on the popularity of, and interest generated by, the miniseries. Curt is the preeminent Grant living historian, who tells the Grant story in Grant’s […]
Read more...Year in Review 2020: #9
Our annual Top Ten List of Most-Read posts for the year usually has a built-in bias toward pieces posted early in the year. They then have a lot of time to accumulate readership over the course of the year. But coming in at number nine this year is a piece that went up just a […]
Read more...Finding Missouri Governor and Union Brigadier General Thomas C. Fletcher in Hillsboro
For many history buffs and road trippers, rural Jefferson County, Missouri is usually not very high – or maybe not at all – on the Civil War bucket list of sites to see. Sitting due south of St. Louis is the county seat, Hillsboro, where one of Missouri’s most influential Civil War and Reconstruction governors […]
Read more...Opossum for Christmas Dinner?
Arthur J. Robinson of Company E, 33rd Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers, had a unique Christmas Dinner in 1863, and in 1913 the veteran published his account in verse form. When he wrote the account, only two veterans survived from the eight member mess. In the author notes, Robinson carefully noted that the incident really happened, and […]
Read more...