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
The Model 1841 12 Pounder Mountain Howitzer was a lightweight, scaled down field artillery weapon that was used by both the Union and Confederate armies. Most field artillery in the Civil War was transported by using teams of horses to pull the weapons, but mountain howitzers were designed to be taken apart and the components [...]
Continue reading about Portable Civil War Artillery: The Mountain Howitzer
Pennsylvania contributed extensively to the Union cause in the Civil War. Over 425.000 Pennsylvanians served in the Union Army and Navy, in well over 200 regiments of infantry, cavalry and artillery. Although a few units served with the western armies, the vast majority served in the Army of the Potomac. There were numerous distinguished and [...]
Continue reading about Pennsylvania’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration
After the fall of Confederate strongholds at Vicksburg. Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana in July 1863, the Union commander of the Department of the Gulf, Major General Nathaniel Banks, proposed that his forces attack Mobile, Alabama. Mobile was an important railroad center and seaport for the Confederacy, and others in the Federal Military agreed that [...]
Continue reading about The Battle of Sabine Pass September 1863
The anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1st-3rd, is an appropriate time to remember the heroics of the men who fought and died there. One of these men who fell was Lt. Alonzo Cushing who was in command of Battery A, of the 4th U.S. Artillery. Cushing died while directing the firing of [...]
Continue reading about Alonzo Cushing, Medal of Honor Winner
The Union Army maintained a large number of fixed fortifications around Washington D.C. during the Civil War. These forts were defended with large caliber, fixed artillery. These guns were maintained and operated by regiments designated as Heavy Artillery, as opposed to those regiments in the field that transported their artillery from place to place, the [...]
