TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Civilians

  • Human Interest Stories From Antietam: Vignette 2

    Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has been writing a series of books on “Human Interest Stories” of various Civil War campaigns. Recently, I looked at Human Interest Stories from Antietam and promised to provide a few more stories from the book. This is the second of four entries I hope to devote to the subject. I’ll […]

  • Thoughts on The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865 by Mark Grimsley

    Mark Grimsley. The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865. New York: Cambridge University Press; First Edition (November 26, 1995). 244 pp., 3 maps, notes, index. ISBN: 0-521-46257-6 $75.00 (Hardcover w/DJ). I wanted to quickly explain the price listed above. I realize $75 is a LOT of money for most of […]

  • Human Interest Stories From Antietam: Vignette 1

    Fellow blogger Scott Mingus has been writing a series of books on “Human Interest Stories” of various Civil War campaigns. Recently, I looked at Human Interest Stories from Antietam and promised to provide a few more stories from the book. This is the first of three to four entries I hope to devote to the […]

  • You Learn Something New…

    I just happened to read about a new preservation effort concerning the tomb of Winfield Scott Hancock’s wife this evening in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story. It seems that the W.S. Hancock Society of Norristown, PA wants has offered to help preserve Almira Hancock’s tomb, now in poor condition in St. Louis’ Bellefontaine Cemetery. I […]

  • Rebel Spy Story Just a Good Yarn

    Stuart’s joke lands woman in jail, but she weds a Northern officer When the American Civil War began in 1861, Antonia Ford was a 23-year-old woman living in Fairfax Court House, Virginia, in the home of her father, a prominent local businessman. The Ford family was secessionist, and Antonia’s brother, Charles, enlisted in the Confederate […]

  • A Sharpshooter at Fort Stevens

    Today is the 143rd anniversary of the battle of Fort Stevens. The heaviest fighting, mostly in the area now occupied by Walter Reed AMC, took place today until it sputtered out at dusk. One of those observing the action was a battlefield tourist, Lucius Chittenden, a treasury official who had used his connections to get […]