Tag Archives: Harris Farm

Fallen Leaders: Did Daniel Chaplin commit death-by-sniper?

Posted on February 3, 2022 by Brian Swartz

After seeing his 1st Maine Heavy Artillery destroyed at Petersburg, Col. Daniel Chaplin “seemed not to care to live after his regiment was gone,” thought Pvt. Joel Brown, Co. I. Two months later the distraught colonel was gone, too, possibly … Continue reading →

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ECW Weekender: Snow at Spotsylvania

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Sarah Kay Bierle

The Virginia snow storm this week made national news as once again weather conditions prevented anyone from advancing on Richmond. Though the restoration of the power grid and the arrival of plows and salt seemed to take as long as … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, ECW Weekender, Photography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Siege of Petersburg: The 1st Maine Heavies

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

During the Spotsylvania sesquicentennial, I called particular attention to the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, which saw its first major combat of the war at the battle of Harris Farm on May 19. Members of the unit called Harris Farm their … Continue reading →

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The Race to North Anna Begins

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

“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 … Continue reading →

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The Confederate Dead of Alsop Farm

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

I have stared at the Confederate dead, laid out in a long neat row, for entire summers, but still they have yet to reveal their stories to me. All I really know is that they were killed on May 19, 1864 … Continue reading →

Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Books & Authors, Common Soldier, Memory, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Remembering Harris Farm, 150 Years Later

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

Not much remains of the Harris Farm today. A high-end, low-density development has grown up in Clement Harris’s fields. His original house, Bloomsbury, still stands atop the highest knoll—the farmhouse is up for sale at the moment—with the newer, beautiful … Continue reading →

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A Soldier’s Last Fight: Harris Farm

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

On June 5, 1864, writing from “Camp on the Battle field,” Chaplain H. L. Calder of the 7th New York Heavy Artillery wrote a letter to the wife of Capt. Charles McCulloch, who’d been killed on May 19, 1864 at Harris … Continue reading →

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“Death of a Bangor Boy”—The Casualties of Harris Farm

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

The May 30, 1864, edition of the Bangor (ME) Whig & Courier included a notice titled “Death of a Bangor Boy”—a sixty-four-word obituary for Corporal Charles W. Smith of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, Company D, who “died of a … Continue reading →

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“We lost some noble men”: The 1st Maine Heavies at Harris Farm

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Chris Mackowski

May 19, 1864, was “a day long to be remembered by the 1st Maine Heavy,” wrote a member of the regiment, “as it was on this day that we received our baptism of fire and learned the stern duties of … Continue reading →

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