Category: Controversies of a Campaign
-
Traffic Management & Snake Creek Gap
A civil war army on the move uncoils and stretches out like a slinky. The rougher the road, tighter the terrain and longer the march, the more attenuated the force becomes — “When these marches commenced, the men would be in regular military order, four abreast; but the first half-mile usually broke up all regularity.” […]
-
What were they doing over there?: Walker’s Div. at Chattanooga
The selection of Confederate reports for the battle of Chattanooga that made it into the Official Records is skimpy. There is a report from Bragg, the army commander, but not from either of his corps commanders, Hardee or Breckenridge, and there are no reports from several of the division commanders or their subordinates. Consider the […]
-
Take Your Damn Quote Back To Ohio!
We recently passed the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh which prompts me to discuss a quotation which bothers me. Anyone who has read a modern book on Shiloh has probably seen some variation on “Take your damned regiment back to Ohio. There is no enemy closer than Corinth.” Allegedly this statement was the […]
-
Did Lee Tell Ewell To Halt on July 1 at Gettysburg?
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately looking through old issues of the National Tribune, THE Union veterans’ paper after the Civil War. My main goal is to find articles pertaining to the Siege of Petersburg, but I’ve found a lot of other fascinating things, and I’ve only reached early 1882. The paper was […]
-
Confederate Controversy at Fort Gregg
I’ve been reading through and transcribing articles from the pages of the Southern Historical Society Papers for The Siege of Petersburg Online recently, and one heated controversy early in the life of the Papers caught my attention: Which Confederate units defended Fort Gregg, the “Confederate Alamo”, in a last ditch defense on April 2, 1865 […]
-
Weapons of the Second Iowa?
Frequent blog readers probably know that I and a couple of others like Joe Bilby are always trying to confirm CW battle ranges. I recently came across an account of the battle of Corinth (Oct. 3-4, 1862) that talks about it. A soldier in the 2nd Iowa wrote: The Rebel batteries silenced ours, and about […]
-
A New Look at Fort Pillow
Few battles in the Late Unpleasantness have aroused such passions as Fort Pillow. Battle or massacre? Truth or propaganda? Steve Cole is looking at the men who actually fought the battle and their fates. The Battle of Fort Pillow was part of General Forrest’s raid into western Tennessee in 1864. Fort Pillow was the first […]