In the fall of 1861, Captain Jesse Taylor accepted command of the artillery at Fort Henry, a Confederate garrison on the Tennessee River near the Kentucky–Tennessee border. The Tennessee flows from eastern Tennessee southwest into northern Alabama before turning north and returning to Tennessee. It empties into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky, and was an [...]
Continue reading about The Capture of Fort Henry, Tennessee February 1862
Major General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea was near an end in mid December 1864. After capturing Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River below Savannah, Georgia on December 13th, there was just one objective left. That last objective was the capture of the city of Savannah itself. The commander of the Confederate forces [...]
Continue reading about William T. Sherman’s Christmas Gift of Savannah, Georgia
Located about a dozen miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield was established in 1960. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek was fought on August 10th, 1861 and was the second major battle of the Civil War. It was one of the largest battles fought west of the Mississippi River. On that August day, [...]
Continue reading about Visiting Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield
At the outset of the Civil War, both sides faced the challenge of equipping a large number of soldiers in a short amount of time. Often, this meant furnishing the men with local militia uniforms, regardless of the color. When the first large scale battle occurred at First Bull Run in Virginia in July of [...]
Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union, doing so on January 9th, 1861. It was also the home state of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. About 80,000 men from Mississippi served in the Confederate Army, and though they fought in campaigns all over the south, many didn’t have to travel [...]
Continue reading about Mississippi’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration
Ohio native and West Point graduate James B. McPherson served as Chief Engineer for General Ulysses S. Grant during the Fort Henry and Fort Donelson campaigns in Tennessee in early 1862. McPherson impressed his commander, and Grant recommended him for multiple promotions. By January 1863, McPherson was a Major General and in command of the [...]
