TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

As most Civil War buffs know, there is just something about standing on the actual spot where events occurred that transforms words in a history book into something real and tangible. Such was the case on Saturday, Aug. 30, when I took part in the 10th Annual Potomac River Crossing at White’s (Conrad’s) Ford, to […]

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Hello all.  My name is Jessica James and Brett has kindly invited me to join TOCWOC as a fiction reviewer. I love to read good, solidly written historical fiction that entertains while being informative and educational. I know many historians turn their noses up at fiction, but I think it’s a great way to draw […]

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Earl J. Hess. Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War: The Eastern Campaigns, 1861-1864. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press (April 6, 2005). 464 pp., 23 maps, appendices, notes, index. ISBN: 0-8078-2931-5 $45.00 (Hardcover w/DJ). Earl Hess sets out to chronicle the use of fortifications during the Eastern Campaigns of the […]

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Air Date: 053008 Subject: Confederate Bushwhacker Sam Hildebrand Books: Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand (Civil War in the West) (edited by Kirby Ross) Guest: Kirby Ross Summary: Newspaper editor Kirby Ross discusses the autobiography of Missouri bushwhacker Samuel S. Hildebrand, the latest version of which he edited. Brett’s Summary: Little known today, Confederate bushwhacker Samuel […]

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I received an interesting email from GMT Games last weekend offering a new game called Dead of Winter (DoW) in their “P500” program. Dead of Winter covers the late 1862 (and early 1863) battle of Murfreesboro (or Stones River). Designed by Dave Powell with an assist from Richard Berg, DoW is the newest game in […]

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As promised, TOCWOC will be holding an After Action Report Contest for Civil War wargamers. The winner will receive a FREE copy of HPS Simulations’ Campaign Chickamauga. Details are on the dedicated contest web page!

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Hat tip to Rich Hamilton at his Gamesquad HPS Simulations blog for posting the Designer Notes for Campaign Antietam and another hat tip to Eddy Sterckx for pointing me in that direction. For those wondering what these games are all about, I have also posted the notes here. For those of you who do not […]

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