TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Controversies of a Campaign

  • The Road To Villanow, May 7th and 8th, 1864

    Back in 2012 I wrote a post about the Confederate defense of Resaca, Georgia, in which I argued that General Joseph Johnston took adequate measures to protect the town and the railway bridge from the movement made by the Army of the Tennessee through Snake Creek Gap on May 9, 1864. But a question remains: […]

  • The Top 13 Controversies at Franklin: Part 3

    Editor’s Note: After I’d posted my recent comments on Lee’s possible endorsement of John Bell Hood for army command in 1864, I started going back over a lengthy nine or ten part series I did on Eric Jacobson’s book For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin.  I had totally […]

  • Varney v. Burnside, a brief for the defense

    As discussed earlier this month, I recently read General Grant and the Rewriting of History by Frank Varney.  Though it is marketed as a book about the impact of Ulysses Grant’s memoirs on the writing of history,  I found that it is mostly about reframing the Civil War career of General William Rosecrans. In doing […]

  • The Top 13 Controversies at Franklin: Part 2

    Editor’s Note: After I’d posted my recent comments on Lee’s possible endorsement of John Bell Hood for army command in 1864, I started going back over a lengthy nine or ten part series I did on Eric Jacobson’s book For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin.  I had totally […]

  • The Case of the Missing Telegram

    Last week, in expressing my initial thoughts about General Grant and the Rewriting of History by Frank Varney, I wrote “do not be surprised to find me writing multiple blog posts” about the book. And so here I am, at it again. In the comments section to the previous post there was some discussion of […]

  • The Top 13 Controversies at Franklin: Part 1

    Editor’s Note: After I’d posted my recent comments on Lee’s possible endorsement of John Bell Hood for army command in 1864, I started going back over a lengthy nine or ten part series I did on Eric Jacobson’s book For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of […]

  • Frank Varney and the Mangling of History

    I have been working my way through General Grant and the Rewriting of History by Frank Varney, that was published by Savas Beatie this past July, and I have a problem: I am so annoyed by it I might not be able to finish. I wanted to like this book, but do not be surprised […]