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
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
Patrick Cleburne was born near Cork, Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day in 1828. He served three years in the British Army before emigrating to the United States in 1849. He eventually settled in Helena, Arkansas, and entered Confederate service in 1861 as Colonel of the 15th Arkansas Infantry. An outstanding field commander who was well [...]
Continue reading about Confederate General Patrick Cleburne’s Emancipation Proposal
Although there were a few large scale battles in Missouri in the Civil War, most of the fighting in that state and in eastern Kansas consisted of smaller actions conducted by guerrilla and other irregular forces. Both sides employed these tactics, and the result was a brutal and vicious war of a type that was seldom [...]
Continue reading about The Baxter Springs Massacre October 6, 1863
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 [...]
