TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

Cross-posted from my blog:
Several weeks ago, the monument to the 6th New York Cavalry on McPherson’s Ridge at Gettysburg took a direct hit by a bolt of lighting, which nearly blew the monument apart. I took this photo on October 21. Here’s a press release from the National Park Service relating to the damage [...]

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Why Does Brett Review Older Books?
Review In Brief: Mine Run: A Campaign Of Lost Opportunities
Books on Bristoe Station & Mine Run
Mine Run: A Campaign of Lost Opportunities October 21, 1863-May 1, 1864. Martin F. Graham & George Skoch. Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, Inc., June 1987.
130 pp. 6 maps, including 1 large fold-out map.
The post-Gettysburg campaigns [...]

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My life over the last 14 days has been incredible.
In that span of time, I have experienced once again the joy of being among friends, the peace of the Battlefield and hiked the Longstreet Counter march, and the path of the 44 Alabama as it attacked Devils Den. I have seen the quizzical looks [...]

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I took my US History I students on a field trip to the Minuteman National Park last Wednesday. Great day. My US History II kids, currently studying the Civil War, were left with my co-teacher, and we decided the show the movie, “Glory,” which I’m pretty sure that anyone reading this post has [...]

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On my desk in front of me, is a relic. If you are knowledgeable about the ACW, you will now what the title means.
Its the caliber size of the minie ball or bullet that was used during the war.
I did not obtain it from the National Park at Gettysburg, nor Antietam, nor Bull [...]

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Centex Homes of Texas gets kudos for its willingness to work with local preservation groups so as to save a battlefield but still get to develop the land surrounding the battlefield. In an unprecedented partnership that should serve as the template for all such efforts, Centex agreed to carve out the Bristoe Station battlefield site [...]

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Of all the stories regarding Everton J. Conger and his successful capture of John Wilkes Booth, one that has always intrigued me is why did Conger decide it was time to fire Richard Garrett’s tobacco barn after hours of making what seemed empty threats to do so?
From Conger’s own testimony all we get is that [...]

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I have long been somewhat mildly disturbed by the story of the “last moment” arrival of Major General Gordon Granger with Brigadier General James B. Steedman’s First Division of the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland to the aid of Major General George H. Thomas in the late afternoon of September 20, 1863 [...]

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Over the past few years, a few folks in my extended family have been researching the family’s history, which can be traced to the 17th century in Europe (England and Germany). Of interest to me was the number of Civil War ancestors. I knew that my great-great-grandfather, William Sisson, fought in the 60th Ohio at [...]

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I never quite grasped where such strong feelings towards the Confederacy come from. Some southerners (certainly not all) pine for and bemoan a government that barely existed 150 years ago- a country founded in war and never tested for its mettle outside that war. As a “northerner” born and [...]

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