The Destruction of the Gunboat Indianola
By the winter of 1863, the Mississippi River was in Union hands except for the stretch between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Port Hudson, Louisiana. The Union Navy was busy trying to secure the Mississippi as...
Author: Mark
Update on Alonzo Cushing Medal of Honor: June 2012
Two years ago, I wrote about how years long lobbying efforts to award Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing the Congressional Medal of Honor had been successful as the Secretary of the Army had recommended that Cushing...
Memphis falls to Union forces; Robert E. Lee Assumes Command of the Army of Northern Virginia; The Seven Days Battles: June 1862
June 1862 in the Civil War The month began with the conclusion of the two day Battle of Seven Pines near Richmond, Virginia on June 1st. Confederate forces attacked Union lines that had been...
The 1st Brigade Band: Civil War Music Historians
I recently attended Evansville, Wisconsin’s annual Civil War commemoration event. In addition to reenactors portraying soldiers and civilians of 150 years ago, the event also featured the 1st Brigade Band. The band took part in a...
The Swamp Angel at Charleston, South Carolina 1863
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. ...
The Civil War in the News: Spring 2012
A sunken Confederate ironclad and a soldier’s arm from Antietam are in the news this spring. CSS Georgia Shipwreck Holds Up Dredging of Savannah Harbor The government is set to deepen the ship channel...
Jackson in the Shenandoah; Peninsula Campaign Continues; Confederates Evacuate Corinth, MS: May 1862
May 1862 in the Civil War After several Union victories in the west in April 1862, much of the fighting in May shifted to Virginia. After a string of defeats in the first four months...
The Death of General John Reynolds at Gettysburg
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...