Future President Benjamin Harrison and the 70th Indiana Infantry at the...
The 70th Indiana Infantry was formed in August 1862 and spent most of its time in service prior to May 1864 guarding railroads and in garrison duty in Kentucky and Tennessee. That month, the regiment...
View ArticleUnion Soldiers Recall the Fighting at the Mule Shoe Salient at Spotsylvania...
After the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5th to 7th, 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant continued his Overland Campaign by moving the Union Army southeast toward Spotsylvania Courthouse. There...
View ArticleBattles of Cold Harbor, Brices Crossroads, and Kennesaw Mountain; Siege of...
150 Years Ago in the Civil War As the month began, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union Army moved closer to Richmond, Virginia. On May 31st, Federal cavalry under Major General Philip Sheridan...
View ArticleColonel Daniel McCook’s Brigade at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, June...
In late June 1864, the progress of Major General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign had slowed down. When the campaign began in early May, Sherman would advance, engage the Confederates of General...
View ArticleColonel James C. Rice’s Report On His Brigade’s Action on Little Round Top at...
On the morning of July 2nd, 1863, Colonel James C. Rice was in command of the 44th New York Infantry, which along with the 16th Michigan, 83rd Pennsylvania, and 20th Maine Infantry regiments, made up...
View ArticleThe 8th Illinois Cavalry at the Battle of Monocacy
In July of 1864, most of the 8th Illinois Cavalry was stationed in the Washington D.C. area and was involved in guard duty and patrols against Colonel John F. Mosby’s guerillas. This regiment of...
View ArticleGeneral John W. Fuller’s Report on His Division’s Action at the Battle of...
Brigadier General John W. Fuller was born in England in 1827 and moved with his family to upstate New York in 1833. He owned a publishing business in Utica, New York, and also served as that city’s...
View ArticleLt. Charles R. Tanner of the 1st Delaware Infantry Saves the Flag at Antietam
Civil War soldiers on both sides would go to extraordinary lengths to save their regimental and national flags from capture by the enemy. One Union officer who risked his life to save his regiment’s...
View ArticleGeneral Henry W. Birge’s Report on His Brigade at the Battle of Opequon
On September 19th, 1864, the 6th and 19th Corps of Major General Philip Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah crossed Opequon Creek and advanced toward the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia....
View ArticleLt. Col. Frederick Benteen’s Report on the Battle of Westport October 1864
In late August 1864, Major General Sterling Price and a 12,000 man Confederate Army left Princeton, Arkansas and headed north to Missouri. Price had an ambitious goal. He would invade Missouri, capture...
View ArticleThe 7th Wisconsin Infantry at Gettysburg
The 7th Wisconsin Infantry was formed in the late summer of 1861 and sent east, where it was brigaded with the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin Infantry regiments, plus the 19th Indiana Infantry. This brigade...
View ArticleFuture President Rutherford B. Hayes’ After Action Reports on the Battles of...
Ohio native and future 19th President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes was a 38 year old Cincinnati lawyer when he was appointed major of the 23rd Ohio Infantry in June of 1861. Hayes was one...
View ArticleColonel Emerson Opdycke’s Report on His Brigade’s Action at the Battle of...
On November 30th, 1864, Major General John M. Schofield’s Army of the Ohio was dug in around the town of Franklin, Tennessee. Schofield’s line extended around the town in a semicircle, with the ends...
View ArticleMajor Ira Spaulding’s Report on the 50th New York Engineers at the Battle of...
One of the key elements of the Union battle plan at Fredericksburg Virginia in late 1862 was the timely arrival of pontoon bridge building material that would enable Federal forces to cross the...
View ArticleFederals Capture Fort Fisher; Campaign of the Carolinas Begins, House of...
150 Years Ago in the Civil War As 1865 began, the armies in Virginia remained locked in siege operations, Tennessee was generally quiet after the Confederate defeat at Nashville in December, and much...
View ArticleAdmiral David Porter’s Report on the Second Battle of Fort Fisher
By late 1864, the Confederacy’s last remaining open seaport was at Wilmington, North Carolina. Wilmington is roughly 30 miles up the Cape Fear River from the Atlantic Ocean, and the mouth of the Cape...
View ArticleMair Pointon of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Recalls the Battle of Hatcher’s...
The battle lines during the June 1864-March 1865 Siege of Petersburg were not entirely static. There were troop movements and fighting on a significant scale in some instances; generally, these were...
View ArticleGeneral James D. Morgan’s Division Holds the Line at The Battle of Bentonville
In March 1865, General William T. Sherman’s army entered North Carolina after marching through South Carolina with little opposition. Sherman’s plan was to continue north and join Ulysses S. Grant’s...
View ArticleGeneral John Hartranft’s Report on the Battle of Fort Stedman
By late March of 1865, the Union siege of Petersburg, Virginia had reduced the Confederate defenders there nearly to desperation. Almost all supply lines had been cut and the Federals had more of...
View ArticleGeneral George A. Custer’s Report on the Appomattox Campaign
On March 29th, 1865, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant began the initial movements of the final campaign of the Civil War. Grant ordered his cavalry commander, Major General Philip Sheridan, to move...
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