TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Month: May 2008

  • Memorial/Decoration Day

    I hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day today. Just remember it’s for the ones who didn’t make it back. The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely […]

  • Bits ‘n Pieces

    The phrase “son of a gun” originated during the Civil War when a woman was struck by a bullet that had passed through the scrotum of a soldier. The sperm on the bullet penetrated her ovaries and impregnated her. True or false? Take the military myth quiz and see how you do (I got nine […]

  • Review: The London Confederates

    The London Confederates: The Officials, Clergy, Businessmen and Journalists Who Backed the American South During the Civil War John D. Bennett ISBN 978-0-7864-3056-7 photos, gazetteer, chronology, appendices, notes, bibliography, index 214pp. hardcover (7 x 10) 2008 $55 McFarland & Company, Inc. Jefferson, NC Former reference librarian John D. Bennett, who lives in Leicester, England, has […]

  • Wargamer.com Reviews John Tiller’s Battleground: Civil War

    Wargamer.com has a review up of John Tiller’s Battleground: Civil War, a repackaging of the five old Talonsoft games Battleground: Gettysburg, Battleground: Antietam, Battleground: Shiloh, Battleground: Bull Run, and Battleground: Chickamauga. Here is the first portion of the review. I’m a little scared about the credentials of the reviewer if he believes John S. Mosby […]

  • Odds & Ends: May 22, 2008

    No real introduction this time. Let’s get right to a look at Civil War news and info from blogs, other web sites, and newspapers. David Woodbury has an interview up with Victoria Bynum, author of The Free State of Jones. In addition to appearing on DW’s Civil War blog, Dr. Bynum was also a guest […]

  • Captured!

    In his seminal book Battle Tactics of the Civil War, author Paddy Griffith talks about the value of what he calls “tactical snippets”—excerpts from letters, reports, books, etc. that show something of the tactics in use at the time. Whereas he confined himself mainly to the line of battle, I prefer the skirmish line. Here’s […]

  • Pat Hirtle’s Board of Inquiry AAR, Part 2

    Pat Hirtle was the winner of TOCWOC’s recent After Action Report contest. His winning entry will be featured in this series of blog entries over the next few weeks. If you missed Part 1, check it out. ————— Brigadier General John Waters, U.S.V., duly sworn. Col. Smythe: General Waters, you were commissioned a brigadier general […]