Author: Fred Ray
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Musketoons and Rifle-Muskets: What’s In A Name?
Names and nomenclature do make a difference in military topics. You’d like to be as accurate as possible, and I think it’s important to use the terminology current at the time unless you specify you’re using something contemporary. I’ll use two examples that have caused a lot of confusion—musketoon and the rifle-musket. The difference between […]
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Who Shot General Hancock?
It has become somewhat of a cottage industry to try to identify who shot various prominent figures like generals Sedgwick and Reynolds. The other say I ran across this postwar newspaper article dealing with the shooting of General Winfield Hancock at Gettysburg. The article credits Sergeant William Wood of Company H, 56th Virginia (Kemper’s brigade, […]
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Back in the Saddle
After what seems like forever I’m back home and trying to get back to a normal life, including posting on TOCWOC. For now, however, I’ll just leave a couple of links of interest to keep everyone entertained while we’re all under “house arrest.” An excellent documentary on the 1864 battle of Olustee in Florida. […]
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Civil War Records Free on Fold3
For a limited time (until April 15th) Fold3 is making its Civil War records available for free. So if you need to research an ancestor’s military record, now’s the time. It does require you to register, however.
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Apologies for Lack of Posting
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following post is from Fred Ray, a frequent and long time contributor to this blog. We wish him well in his recovery. *** I’m sorry to say that I’ve not posted anything since early November of last year. It’s not because I’ve lost interest or don’t have anything more to say, but […]
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Civil War on the Block
Cowan’s Auctions just completed a massive auction of Civil War items of all kinds. The catalog is fun to look through, even if you can’t afford to buy any of it. Three items I found particularly interesting were: A letter from General Lee to Virginia Senator Andrew Hunter in January 1865 about the enlistment of […]