Showing results for "George B. McClellan"
Conspiracy – Civil War Style?
In a year with an exceptional plethora of “tell-all” books and a variety of conspiracy theories from multiple sides and perspectives, old historical sources never fail to add a little perspective and humor. While seeking an escape from the election news-cycle, I found this delightful little tale in James Scrymser’s Civil War stories. (He’s the […]
Read more...Perceptions of Emancipation in Gettysburg, Part Three
ECW welcomes back guest author Jon Tracey The conclusion of a series (Part One, Part Two) As seen in Part One and Part Two, Gettysburg was a border town caught directly in the midst of national debates on emancipation during the Civil War. In early July 1863, the small town became national news as the […]
Read more...To Hazard All
“The present seems to be the most propitious time since the commencement of the war for the Confederate Army to enter Maryland,” wrote Robert E. Lee following his army’s stunning success at Second Manassas. To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign, 1862 by Robert Orrison & Kevin R. Pawlak Savas Beatie, 2018 192 […]
Read more...The Army of the Potomac’s March from Harrison’s Landing
On August 14, 1862, the Army of the Potomac began departing its safe haven of the last month: its camp at Harrison’s Landing on the James River. George B. McClellan’s army lost nearly 16,000 men in late June and early July during the Seven Days’ Campaign. Now, under orders of General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, McClellan’s plans […]
Read more...A Geneseo Gunner on the Virginia Peninsula
I have had difficulty connecting my hometown to the Virginia battlefields I primarily research. Geneseo, Illinois sent its fair share of soldiers to the western theater but had no formal units in the east. While researching a blog article two years ago I happily stumbled across a series of correspondence to a local newspaper from […]
Read more...“The Irish spirit for the war is dead:” The Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg and the Battle’s Impact on New York’s Irish-American Community
ECW welcomes back guest author Abbi Smithmyer Every year, thousands of visitors flock to the Fredericksburg Battlefield. As they walk along the sunken road, stand behind the stonewall, gaze into the windows of the Innis House, and walk through the National Cemetery atop Marye’s Heights, one of the most iconic stories of the historic battle […]
Read more...BookChat with Zachery Fry, author of A Republic in the Ranks
I was pleased to spend some time recently with a new book by historian Zachery Fry, assistant professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Dr. Frey is the author of A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac, a new release from the […]
Read more...The Ends of the War in Rectortown
I’ve come to Rectortown, Virginia, looking for one end of the war, but I’ve unexpectedly found several. (The anniversary of one of them is today, April 21, as it happened.) Thick puffs of clouds that look like smoky cotton balls hover over rampant hills, but abundant sunshine somehow spills through. The morning had been rainy, […]
Read more...Book Review: The Cornfield, Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point
Alongside Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle and Shiloh’s Hornet’s Nest, the fighting in David Miller’s Cornfield on the Antietam battlefield ranks as one of the toughest Civil War landscapes to make any sense of. It should then come as no surprise that it has taken over 150 years since the Battle of Antietam for a micro tactical […]
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