TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

I have posted two of Iowa soldier William Holden letters before, one at the end of the war and one from Atlanta. This one is a detailed description of the Second Battle of Corinth fought on October 3-4, 1862 at Corinth, MS between the Confederates under generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price, and the […]

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Sorry for the gap in posting—I have been down with a nasty G-I bug most of the week. I’ve been wanting to post parts of another William Holden letter I acquired, one of which I have posted already. Holden, an Iowa farm boy, was by 1864 and experienced soldier and held the rank of first […]

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I have some letters from William Holden, a soldier with the Second Iowa. An ardent abolitionist who lived in Ottumwa, the 22-year-old Holden signed up at the beginning of the conflict and stayed on until the end, re-enlisting in December, 1863. Serving in the Western armies, he fought in almost all the major battles of […]

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Rebel or loyalist? Sometimes it was hard to tell. On the surface, wealthy Lincolnton businessman and slaveholder John Phifer may have appeared loyal to Dixie. His textile mill on the South Fork River cranked out products much needed in the embattled South. His three sons were officers in the Confederate Army, and two died fighting […]

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