Showing results for "franklin"
The Aftermath of Port Hudson and Nathaniel Banks’s Return to Bayou Teche
The fall of both Vicksburg and Port Hudson was trumpeted throughout the North. However, Ulysses Grant took the greater prize, accepted the surrender of more men, and suffered fewer losses than Banks. His campaign, then and now, is considered among the most brilliant of the war. Banks by contrast oversaw a longer siege and lost more […]
Read more...The Surrender of Port Hudson
After the failure of his second assault on Port Hudson, on June 15 Banks called on a “Forlorn Hope” of choice volunteers. They would storm the Rebel lines, lured by promises of recognition, promotion, and medals made from captured Confederate guns. Banks wanted 1,000 men. 1,300 stepped forth, mostly from regiments that had not seen […]
Read more...The Second Assault on Port Hudson
For Nathaniel Banks, his defeat on May 27, 1863 at Port Hudson was the turning point of his life. A victory would have allowed Banks to proceed to Vicksburg and take command or at least share in the acclaim of the city’s fall. Now he was stuck besieging the secondary prize. To his wife Mary he […]
Read more...The Fight at Picacho Peak
ECW is pleased to welcome back Gregory L. Wade. Tourists often visit the Phoenix area for its near-perfect winter climate, the incredible desert scenery, or to learn about Mexican or Native American history. Not many people realize that the Civil War touched this scorched ground just a few miles north of Tucson in a fight […]
Read more...The First Assault on Port Hudson
For the North, May 27, 1863 would be one of the cruelest days of the Civil War. On that day Nathaniel Banks hoped to take Port Hudson by storm. Once he did, he could move on Vicksburg and claim the North’s first major strategic victory of 1863. If he failed he would have to settle […]
Read more...The Road to Port Hudson and Nathaniel Banks’s Date with Destiny
For Nathaniel Banks, his moment of destiny arrived in May 1863. So far his career as a general had been less successful than his political one. Although he played a key roll in keeping Maryland in the union, 1862 saw him take part in a series of defeats in Virginia. What kept him around was […]
Read more...The May 2023 ECW Newsletter Now Available
Emerging Civil War’s May 2023 newsletter went out today. Did you get your copy? In this issue: savor the amazing successes at Franklin, Tennessee, that have allowed us to have a battlefield there again see the latest success from Shrouded Veterans, focusing on a soldier from Schuylkill County, PA hear about the importance of military […]
Read more...Patrick Cleburne’s Pet Raccoon?
In Craig L. Symonds’s biography of Confederate General Patrick Cleburne the following paragraph appears when he describes the atmosphere around headquarters: Another aspect of life at divisional headquarters is revealed in a story told by St. John Liddell, the Louisiana planter who commanded one of Cleburne’s four brigades. Cleburne, it seems, kept a pet raccoon […]
Read more...“Bringing Cleburne In”
Over the past few months, I’ve been studying the life of Patrick Cleburne. An Irish immigrant to the United States, he settled in Arkansas and sided with the Confederacy during the American Civil War, rising in battlefield success and leadership command in the Western Theater before his death in a charge at the battle of […]
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