TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

Gil R., one of the minds behind Matrix Games’ new Civil War computer game Forge of Freedom, had this to say late this week on the Matrix Games Forums:

Its release is going to be in the very near future. Right now, all programming is done, except for one pesky issue that Eric is working on. [...]

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The Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse has an extensive collection of out-of-copyright clipart, much of it from the 19th Century. Of interest to us is the Civil War section (there is also one on Reconstruction), which has a lot of period illustrations from sources like Frank Leslie’s. All are available in various resolutions to fit just [...]

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I missed the series of August battles of Grant’s Fourth Offensive due to real life issues, but I’m back with a look at perhaps the North’s best chance to drive Lee out of Petersburg and Richmond between July 30, 1864 and April 2, 1865. The events of September 29, 1864 nearly proved fatal to Lee’s [...]

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September 29, 1864
The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, as Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, sends the 10th and 18th US Army Corps north of the James River to attack the outer defenses of Richmond directly, including combats at:
a) Fort Harrison (captured by Brig. Gen. George Stannard, USA)
b) Fort Gilmer (where the Confederates halt the Union [...]

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I mentioned in a previous post how state politcs affected the assigment of Union sharpshooter units, and will bring up a few more examples. It did not help that the Federals didn’t really have any sort of policy on the matter. Berdan did raise two regiments early in the war, and got on well with [...]

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for Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin
by Eric A. Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp

Softback
$24.95
plus shipping
519 pages!
ISBN
0-9717444-6-7

Hardback
$44.95
plus shipping
519 pages!
ISBN
0-9717444-4-0

We are nearing the end of this series, as this is the second to last post. I have finished the book, and this week I’ll be [...]

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September 28, 1864
Skirmish at Port Republic, VA, the Shenandoah Valley, VA, Campaign.

Skirmish at Rockfish Gap, VA, the Shenandoah Valley, VA, Campaign.
The Yankees and Rebels around Petersburg, VA, continue to incur losses as snipers (needlessly) pick off men on both sides of the siege lines.
Note: All “Today In The Petersburg Campaign” blog entries are used [...]

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September 27, 1864
Skirmish at Port Republic, VA, the Shenandoah Valley, VA, Campaign.

Skirmish at Weyer’s Cave, VA, the Shenandoah Valley, VA, Campaign.
Note: All “Today In The Petersburg Campaign” blog entries are used with permission from Ronald A. Mosocco’s Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. [...]

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Historians make much of the problems the Confederacy had with state’s rights, and how it hindered the war effort. They haven’t paid enough attention, I think, to the problems it caused to the Union war effort. I found out about one aspect of it while researching the sharpshooter book, about how the various states tried, [...]

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September 26, 1864
Skirmish at Brown’s Gap, VA, as the Shenandoah Valley’s skies are darkened with the black smoke of burning barns, fields, and houses, by the torches of Maj. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan, including the following:
-Skirmish at Port Republic, VA.
-Skirmish at Weyer’s Cave, VA.

Note: All “Today In The Petersburg Campaign” blog entries are used with [...]

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