The Picket Guard or – All Quiet Along the Potomac by Ethel Lynn Beers (1827-1879)
“All quiet along the Potomac,” they say, “Except now and then a stray picket Is shot, as he walks on his beat to and fro, By a rifleman hid in the thicket. ‘T is...
Iron Brigader Blog
General William T. Sherman Recalls How His Army Foraged for Food on the March to the Sea
Following the capture of Atlanta in September 1864, Major General William T. Sherman prepared for his next campaign. He proposed to march his army across Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah. He also proposed that...
The Boys of Potomac rank the Generals
Soldiers on both sides in the Civil War spent a lot of time in camp when they weren’t actively campaigning, and when the routine work of drilling was finished, they had time for a...
Fort Zachary Taylor Served as Headquarters for the Union Navy’s East Gulf Blockading Squadron and Secured Key West Florida for the Union
In the first half of the 19th century, the United States built several masonry forts along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts for the purpose of defending those coasts from invasion. One of these forts...
Colonel Alexander Hays on the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry at the Battle of Glendale, or Frazier’s Farm
After the Battle of Savage’s Station on June 29th, 1862, the Union Army of the Potomac continued its withdrawal towards Harrison’s Landing on the James River. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under its...
Colonel Edward Daniels of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry on Engagements at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas, and Southeast Missouri, May 1862
There were many more smaller engagements in the Civil War than major battles, and that was especially true in certain states like Missouri. In the middle of May 1862, the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry was...
Walt Whitman’s Poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Laments the Death of Abraham Lincoln
Writer, poet, and journalist Walt Whitman wrote several poems about the Civil War, which were compiled into two volumes called Drum-Taps, and Sequel to Drum-Taps, both published in 1865. He became personally involved in...
Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty of the 16th New York Cavalry on the Capture and Death of John Wilkes Booth
After mortally wounding President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC on April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth escaped out of the city and into Maryland. Joining up with David Herold, another assassination...
The Maryland State Monument at Antietam National Battlefield
At the outset of the Civil War, Maryland was one of four border states with legal slavery located between the seceding Confederate states and the remaining Union states. While none of these border states...