Author: Ned B.
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The Ewell Option
We have a tendency to view history as if through a rear view mirror, looking back along the path taken and framing what happened by how it turned out. Since we know that in May and June of 1862 General Thomas Stonewall Jackson led a famous campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, the events leading up […]
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The Great Escape: Taylor at Irish Bend
April 1863 did not go well for Confederate General Richard Taylor. At the beginning of the month he had hoped to take the initiative against US forces in lower Louisiana; but by end of the month he was struggling to hold together his broken army after having lost the initiative, lost half his fleet, and […]
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The Minutemen of ’61
Last month I wrote a bit about the Massachusetts Militia before the war. That led me to think about the response of Massachusetts at the start of the war 152 years ago this week. Years later chroniclers of the Massachusetts militia boasted of their impact: “To the fact that Massachusetts for years had maintained a […]
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The Great Naval Showdown that Wasn’t
On April 14th 1863, 150 years ago this week, a naval battle occurred in the Atchafalaya Basin that could have had a big impact on the war; but instead of a dramatic showdown, it turned into a turkey shoot. ———————————————————————————————- In the beginning of 1863 Confederate naval forces in the Gulf Coast region enjoyed a […]
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The Atchafalaya
150 years ago, U.S. Army General-in-Chief Henry Halleck had a grand plan for the war in the west — open the Mississippi River by a cooperative movement of Gen. Grant from the north and Gen. Banks from the south. The problem was that the two were separated by over 150 miles of river protected by […]
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“I like a camp, and long for a war”
In a comment on my previous post [Rattling the Saber], “Let Us Have Peace” suggested I explore further what made the 1859 encampment of the Massachusetts militia different than other militia events. As I see it, the 1859 encampment was significant for its size and its publicity. My theory is that the man at the […]
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Rattling the Saber — The Massachusetts Militia in 1859
Previously I posted an illustration by Winslow Homer depicting the review of the Massachusetts Militia conducted in September 1859. Below are two other images of the same event. The first is titled ‘Camp Massachusetts at Concord, Sept. 7,8 & 9, 1859’ with the subtitle ‘His Excellency Nath. Prentice Banks Commander in Chief’. The illustration is […]