Showing results for "George B. McClellan"
Mexican War Hero Alexander W. Doniphan: One of the Civil War’s Great “What Ifs”
Some of the most thought-provoking “what ifs” of the Civil War involve noteworthy individuals that chose not to or could not participate in the war. Instead of taking up arms for one reason or another, they remained on the sidelines during the conflict. Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan is one such individual. During the Mexican War, […]
Read more...ECW BookChat: A Fine Introduction to Battle by Joe Owen
I was pleased to spend some time recently with a new book by Joseph Owen, A Fine Introduction to Battle: Hood’s Texas Brigade at the Battle of Eltham’s Landing, May 7, 1862, published by Fox Run Publishing (find out more about it here). CM: The book is called “A Fine Introduction to Battle,” but readers […]
Read more...A Scene of “Horrible Barbarity”
In the spirit of the Halloween season, I present a curiously morbid story entitled “Horrible Barbarity” that circulated through a few newspapers in the spring of 1864. The article, published first by the Houston Daily Telegraph around April 30, 1864, was replicated in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial (May 4, 1864), The Liberator of Boston (May […]
Read more...The Commencement of the Army of the Potomac’s Third Campaign
Engineers laid two pontoon bridges across the Potomac River at Berlin, Maryland in late October 1862 (modern-day Brunswick, Maryland). After six weeks of reorganization, refitting, and resupplying, the Army of the Potomac was again on the move. Federal soldiers and newspaper correspondents recorded the scenes that transpired as the army crossed its namesake river into […]
Read more...The Four-Legged Veteran of 18 Battles
The Library of Congress online archive has this photographic treasure: And here’s a transcription of the photo’s description printed on the back of the image:
Read more...One Part Glory
The Summer of 1862 arguably featured the most intense fighting of the war in the Eastern Theater. The fighting began in the steamy swamps just outside Richmond as summer commenced and finished in the foggy, warmth of late summer along the meandrous banks of Antietam Creek in Western Maryland. Antietam translates to “swift current” in […]
Read more...Antietam: A Tactical Union Victory
The Battle of Antietam was a key turning point in the American Civil War and American history. In short, it turned back Robert E. Lee’s first campaign north of the Potomac River and led to the issuance of the Preliminary—and then, final—Emancipation Proclamation. However, many historians and students of the war refer to the battle […]
Read more...A Chronology of the Confederacy’s 1862 Counterstrokes
Several months ago, I crossed an item off my Civil War bucket list: visiting the Perryville battlefield. While at the visitor center, I watched a video which put the Confederate invasion of Kentucky into the larger context of the war. This orientation video showed seven red arrows moving north in the summer and fall of […]
Read more...Fallen Leaders: Colonel Isaac Seymour, 6th Louisiana Infantry, Part 1
The loss of a leader had the potential to impact the morale of the soldiers below them. It had less to do with how important they were to the success of the battle or what rank they held, and more to do with the connection they shared with the men they left behind. A leader […]
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