TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Two men could not have been more different than Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton. Lincoln had a broad vision, a humane disposition and a folksy way of expressing himself. He could be flexible, was not terribly good at particulars, and could ignore a personal insult if it advanced his cause. Stanton, OTOH was a master […]

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What were the consequences of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid? In operational terms, not much. Casualties were minimal and the raid accomplished little. The indirect consequences, however, were important. For one, it convinced the Confederates to strengthen Richmond’s defenses and move their POWs away from the capital, thus removing a tempting target for raids. The biggest fallout […]

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It starts with a fake article in a minor newspaper. The dollar drops, gold surges, and the administration panics. In the shadows someone who’s bought gold makes a bundle. Perhaps you’re thinking of a story earlier this week, when an article by Middle Eastern correspondent Robert Fisk in the British newspaper The Independent sent the […]

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