TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Janney, Caroline E. (ed) Petersburg to Appomattox: The End of the War in Virginia. (University of North Carolina Press: April 2018). 320 pages, 13 illustrations, 3 maps, notes, bibliography, index.  ISBN: 978-1-4696-4076-1. $35.00 (Cloth) Petersburg to Appomattox: The End of the War in Virginia marks yet another solid entry in the University of North Carolina […]

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Over at the Siege of Petersburg Online today, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Five Forks, James F. Epperson and I (Brett Schulte) debate the following question: Was Sheridan’s relief of Warren at Five Forks justified? For those of you unfamiliar with this particular controversy, I’ll try not to take my side in the […]

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally posted at The Siege of Petersburg Online and has been cross-posted here for the benefit of TOCWOC readers. *** July 19, 1864: William F. “Baldy” Smith is Relieved from Command of 18th Corps, AotJ Today marks the 150th anniversary of William F. “Baldy” Smith’s removal from command of the […]

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Previously I wrote about who really won the battle of Iuka. This time I am going to dig deeper into Rosecrans’ performance at that battle. Attention has often been deflected from Rosecrans by questions about where Grant and Ord were during the battle. A lot of ink has been spilled about ‘acoustic shadows’, mis-communication or […]

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I suppose I could have titled this one “New Book Challenges Honesty of Grant’s Memoirs,” but then some of you might not be here now.  I’ll admit that my first two thoughts when I first heard of Frank P. Varney’s new book General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William […]

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Researcher and Petersburg author/editor Bryce Suderow is the gift that keeps on giving.  Bryce was kind enough to pass along to me the unpublished Five Forks manuscript of Albert Stickney.  The first two parts are available now at The Siege of Petersburg Online, with the last three parts appearing over the next three days. Who […]

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Castel, Albert.  Simpson, Brooks D. Victors in Blue: How Union Generals Fought the Confederates, Battled Each Other, and Won the Civil War (University Press of Kansas, 2011). 374 pages, 10 photos, 10 maps, notes. ISBN: 978-0-7006-1793-7 $34.95 (Hardcover). What ONE Union general, other than Grant, could have defeated Robert E. Lee?  How should the victorious […]

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