TOCWOC - A Civil War Blog

First of all, happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there! I just wanted to write a short note about the old blog posts from American Civil War Gaming and Reading. As you may recall, posts from mid-June 2006 to February 2007 (the end of that Civil War blog’s run) did not transfer over [...]

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It’s time again for Odds & Ends.

What is Odds & Ends? Here is the answer. In addition to the Civil War blogs, I’ve also subscribed to several phrases which allow me to find some interesting blog entries and news stories involving the Civil War. I’ve decided to create an on-again, off-again series of posts called [...]

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After having reservations similar to Harry Smeltzer’s, I finally decided to resubscribe to Civil War History, a journal published by The Kent State University Press, just recently. I was rewarded with the March 2008 issue pictured at left, which has only one article focusing on the usual race and gender topics seemingly overwhelmingly favored [...]

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Fellow blogger Dale Cox recently announced the release of his book The Battle of Massard Prairie: The 1864 Confederate Attacks on Fort Smith, Arkansas. I immediately ordered my copy and it arrived late last week. Cox had the book published by William Cox, presumably a relative. It is is available at Dale’s [...]

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I found several emails from Bill Adams, who is kind enough to provide me with a lot of information about black powder period arms. As for the higher muzzle velocity for the smoothbore musket, he points out three factors:

Many musket cartridges came with a paper patch, which helped sealing somewhat
The round ball upset when fired, [...]

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The 19th Century saw the most rapid improvement in the rifle of any comparable period in history. At the beginning of the century the exemplar of the standard arm was the smooth bore .75 cal. Brown Bess musket, and by the end we have the modern .30 cal. bolt action, box magazine repeater using smokeless [...]

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An interview of Eric Wittenberg, J.D. Petruzzi, and Mike Nugent, authors of the upcoming title One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 (hat tip to Dimitri for this one)

It looks like the Manassas National Battlefield Park has started its own landscape [...]

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PAT HIRTLE! You can check out the details at the contest’s dedicated page here at TOCWOC. Pat’s winning entry was created using the Johnny Reb II miniature wargames rules. Pat’s entry was not only entertaining and detailed. He also had a very unique approach to his After Action Report, which was [...]

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Various Authors. Armchair Reader Civil War: Untold Tales of the Blue and Gray. Lincolnwood, IL: West Side Publishing; First edition (August 15, 2007). 464 pp. ISBN: 978-1412715638 $15.95 (Paperback).
What book would I give to my loved ones who know little to nothing about the Civil War? That’s a question I’ve often asked myself. [...]

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After seeing references to it often at Eric’s blog and getting onto a bit of a Gettysburg kick lately book wise, I finally did it. I broke down and purchased the entire run of Gettysburg Magazine. Readers wishing to do this have some options. Individual copies of issues 1-5, 10, and 14 [...]

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