Showing results for "North Anna"
The Race to North Anna Begins
“Every intelligent enlisted man in the Army of the Potomac knew that we could not wrest the Confederate intrenchments at Spotsylvania from Lee’s veteran infantry,” a Union private announced. Ulysses S. Grant knew it, too. His failed assaults on May 18 convinced him that his time in Spotsylvania had come to an end. He could […]
Read more...No NPS? No Problem!—North Anna Battlefield Park
Day Four in a series coinciding with the federal government shutdown Oft-overlooked, in the history books and by battlefielders, is the North Anna battlefield—scene of one of the biggest Civil War battles that never happened. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though. Ulysses S. Grant, punch-drunk exhausted from the grueling pace he’d set for his army, […]
Read more...The Trenches at North Anna
The North Anna battlefield, so often overlooked, is operated as a county historical park by Hanover County, VA. The park boasts some of the best-preserved earthworks in the Eastern Theater, thanks to the good corporate stewardship of the General Crushed Stone company, which donated part of the land for the park. 149 years ago today, […]
Read more...The Trenches of North Anna
Read more...Striking out from Savannah: Uncle Billy Moves North
At the conclusion of the “March to the Sea”, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s armies spent Christmas 1864 in and around Savannah, Georgia. While his men were enjoying a hard earned rest, “Uncle Billy” was busy planning his next maneuver. Exchanging letters with General-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who was besieging Robert E. Lee outside Richmond and Petersburg, throughout […]
Read more...From The Susquehanna River to Stones River Pennsylvanians at Stones River, Part III
Part of a Series: Part 1 and Part 2 Few eastern units served with the western Union armies in places like Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. In the Army of the Cumberland, which fought at Stones River, Tennessee, most of the troops were from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, along with smaller numbers from Michigan, Wisconsin, […]
Read more...Fantasy & Reality: A South Carolinian Marches North, Part 3
Part of a Series Read Part 1 and Part 2 The Pennsylvania Campaign took Taliaferro Simpson (Tally) away from camp life, and he had less time to write letters. However, from the late July and early August letters when he told family members details about the campaign, it is fairly easy to piece together experiences […]
Read more...Girls & Hometown Gossip: A South Carolinian Marches North, Part 1
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been intrigued by romantic troubles in the South during the Civil War. There are multiple accounts that I’m still studying and analyzing about girls on the homefront starting rumors that they were engaged to absent soldiers and how those young soldiers responded with annoyance or outrage when they […]
Read more...Book Review: “If We are Striking for Pennsylvania:” The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg, Vol. 2: June 22-30, 1863
“If We are Striking for Pennsylvania:” The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg, Vol. 2: June 22-30, 1863. By Scott Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2023. Hardcover, 444 pp. $34.95. Reviewed by John G. Selby The much-anticipated volume 2 of the […]
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