Author: Ned B.
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Grant & The Red River Campaign, Part 1
Update March 30, 2015: post edited to show a change in how the series will unfold. In my opinion, several aspects of the Red River campaign of 1864 are misunderstood. An example of this is the role of General Ulysses S Grant. This post is the first in a six an eight part series that […]
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Civil War Book Review: Blood on the Bayou: Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and the Trans-Mississippi by Donald S. Frazier
Frazier, Donald S. Blood on the Bayou: Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and the Trans-Mississippi. (State House Press: March 2015). 500 pages, 125 illustrations, 30 maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-1-933337-63-0. $39.99 (Cloth) — Blood on the Bayou, the third installment in what is called Frazier’s Louisiana Quadrille, begins “This is not the book I intended to write.” […]
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The Other General: Cassius Clay and the politics of command
October 30, 1862 – General George Thomas was annoyed. Thomas believed strongly in the traditions and protocols of the regular army: seniority and service should matter. After learning that his new boss was going to be William Rosecrans, he wrote to General Halleck that “no just cause exists for overslaughing me by placing me under […]
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Confederate Reinforcements & the Second Manassas Campaign
I have been reading about the Antietam campaign and a question occured to me. It is generally acknowledged that before entering Maryland, Gen. Lee was reinforced by a column of roughly 25,000 troops consisting of the infantry divisions of DH Hill, McLaws and Walker; a cavalry brigade under Hampton; and the reserve artillery under Pendleton. […]
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US casualties at 1st Winchester: Will it ever be accurately reported?
The first battle of Winchester, Virginia was fought on May 25, 1862 between forces under Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall‘ Jackson and those under Union General Nathaniel Banks. For US casualties in the battle, almost all books and websites I have seen report the same thing: 62 killed; 243 wounded; 1,714 missing/captured; for a total of 2,019. See this […]
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Whatever Happened to D.K. Boswell?
During the early part of the war, Lincoln elevated certain southern leaders who remained loyal to the US, with hope that they could rally fellow southern loyalists and start the reconstruction process. Examples include: Andrew Johnson, appointed Brigadier General and Military Governor of Tennessee in March 1862; Edward Stanly, appointed Brigadier General and Military Governor […]
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“We have been a little too quick for them” — Confederate failure at Snake Creek Gap
Continued from The Road to Villanow. By May 8th the Confederates had lost control of the valley between Taylor Ridge and Rocky Face.1 It was too late to stop the US advance from reaching Snake Creek Gap. Nonetheless there appears to have been a last ditch effort to fight for the gap. Most books on […]