The Death of General Elon J. Farnsworth at Gettysburg
Elon J. Farnsworth was born in Michigan in 1837. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 8th Illinois Cavalry as a 1st lieutenant. He served as an aide to the...
Category: War
Old Abe the War Eagle: Mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry
Many Civil War units had mascots, but perhaps the most famous of these was Old Abe the War Eagle, the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry. Old Abe was a bald eagle that not...
Confederate Spy Belle Boyd Led a Colorful Life
Belle Boyd was born in Virginia and was a spy for the Confederate States in the Civil War. While on a speaking tour after the war, she died in Wisconsin and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Wisconsin Dells.
Cordelia Harvey Worked Tirelessly to Improve Medical Care for Soldiers
Wisconsin had a new governor in January 1862. Louis P. Harvey, a Republican and former Wisconsin Secretary of State, took office on January 6th. Four days later, Harvey addressed the state legislature, asking that...
The Battle of Sabine Pass September 1863
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...
The 7th Maine Infantry at the Battle of Antietam
By September 1862, the 7th Maine Infantry had been in the Army of the Potomac for a year. The regiment had seen action earlier in the year in the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia and...
John S. Mosby Captures General Edwin Stoughton
John S. Mosby was a Virginia lawyer when the Civil War broke out in 1861. He was a member of a Virginia militia company at the time, and went off to war. His militia...
Lt. William B. Cushing and the Destruction of the C.S.S. Albemarle
In an earlier post, I discussed Lt. Alonzo Cushing of the 4th U.S. Artillery, who died at Gettysburg during Pickett’s Charge July 3rd, 1863, and after years of lobbying by supporters, has been awarded...