In July 1863, Union forces Major General Quincy Gillmore’s Army of the South landed on Morris Island outside Charleston, South Carolina. Gillmore’s objective was to take control of Charleston Harbor and eventually, Charleston itself. Charleston and vicinity was heavily defended, including Battery Wagner on Morris Island, artillery emplacements on James and Sullivan’s Islands, and Fort [...]
Continue reading about The Swamp Angel at Charleston, South Carolina 1863
Lancaster, Pennsylvania native John F. Reynolds was a West Point graduate and instructor at that institution when the Civil War began. Initially, he was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 14th U.S. Infantry, but was soon promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. Reynolds saw action as a brigade commander in the Fifth Corps during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in [...]
Continue reading about The Death of General John Reynolds at Gettysburg
The Civil War produced casualties on a scale never seen in American history up to that time. Out of necessity, great improvements in the treatment of the wounded were made during the war, and as time went on, more and more of these wounded men survived. Though there were many who contributed to these advancements [...]
Continue reading about Dr. Jonathan Letterman’s Civil War Ambulance Corps
U.S. Navy officer William B. Cushing is perhaps best known for his daring October 1864 raid that destroyed the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle at Plymouth, North Carolina, but he had a number of additional adventures along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina in the Civil War. Though the terminology didn’t exist at the time of [...]
Continue reading about Lt. William B. Cushing’s Attack on Jacksonville, N.C. November 1862
Following the historic clash between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) on March 9th, 1862, Virginia returned to port in Norfolk, Virginia for repairs and refitting. Besides repairing battle damage, the vessel was given a heavier ram, and 100 tons more ballast which increased the ship’s draft to 23 feet. The [...]
Continue reading about The Destruction of the CSS Virginia May 1862
John Sedgwick was born in Cornwell Hollow, Connecticut in 1813 and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1837. He served in the Mexican War and was a major in the 1st U.S. Cavalry at the outbreak of the Civil War. He rose quickly in rank, and was commissioned a brigadier general of [...]
Continue reading about The Death of Major General John Sedgwick May 9th, 1864
