Showing results for "Chancellorsville"
Lost Opportunities in the Army of the Potomac—A Pair of Examples
Army management is a complicated skill in which the personality and temperament of commanders influence the inner workings and culture of the organization. The Union had no army which was as political, and influenced by outside politics, as its primary eastern theater force, the Army of the Potomac. Political infighting and dissent is well known […]
Read more...Foote on Lee
In an interview that appeared in the Summer 1999 issue of The Paris Review, Shelby Foote offered a few thoughts about the battle of Gettysburg, which he’d famously written about in “The Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign” (part of his mammoth three-volume Civil War narrative). “The single greatest mistake of the war by […]
Read more...Malvern Hill: A Victory With The Look And Feel Of Defeat
ECW welcomes back guest author Rob Wilson “I have supped full with horrors. Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts Cannot once start me.” — William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5, Line 13-15 The Army of the Potomac emerged the clear winner at Malvern Hill, the last of the Seven Days Battles fought around the Confederate […]
Read more...Searching for Leonidas Torrence: Iverson’s Brigade and the Fight at Oak Ridge
The weather is warm. Occasional cloud cover offers relief but the sun feels good. It is the first day of summer, and I’m exactly where I should be on such a day: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I’m traveling over the First Day’s fields with a former student of mine, Eric, who recently graduated from Shepherd University. We […]
Read more...My Favorite Historical Person: Captain Sewell Gray
“Sabbath and a lovelier day never overtook a soldier,” wrote Capt. Sewell Gray on the day he died. It was Sunday, May 3, 1863, and Gray, a 22-year-old captain with the 6th Maine Infantry, was among 4,700 soldiers ordered to storm Marye’s Heights during the battle of Second Fredericksburg—a position previously thought impregnable. Gray tried […]
Read more...My Favorite Historical Person: Who’s On The Blog Header?
A logo is supposed to “brand” whatever it represents. A logo is supposed to tell something about that item, company, or institution at first glance. While some might consider it a stretch to say a two week blog series needs an official logo, the header adorning the top of every post in the series has […]
Read more...“Remembered With Special Honor”: Benjamin Davis at Brandy Station
Today marks the 154th Anniversary of the Battle of Brandy Station. One of the more interesting and I think forgotten figures of the engagement is Col. Benjamin Franklin “Grimes” Davis. Unlike many of his comrades, Davis was a Southerner. George Sanford, who served with him in the 1st U.S. Cavalry later claimed he was a […]
Read more...Dan Welch: Interpreting Stonewall at Second Manassas
The concentration of this year’s ECW Symposium will examine great defensive stands of the American Civil War. The multi-day event will look at numerous commanders, command decisions, and battlefields along the way, including both theaters of the conflict. For me, my task will be to interpret just one of those defensive stands, “Stonewall” Jackson at […]
Read more...ECW Digital Shorts: The Long Encampment at Seven Pines by Robert Dunkerly
The latest Emerging Civil War Digital Short is now available in the wake of the anniversary of the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines. The Long Encampment at Seven Pines, June 2-28, 1862 by Robert M. Dunkerly tells the story of the Army of the Potomac’s stay on the Seven Pines battlefield following their victory there […]
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