General Benjamin Butler Occupies Baltimore
The State of Maryland had divided loyalties in the Civil War. There were regiments of Maryland soldiers in the armies of both sides. Though Maryland never seceded and joined the Confederacy, it was a...
Tagged: 1861
Colonel Mahlon D. Manson’s Report on The Battle of Mill Springs, or Logan’s Crossroads, January 1862
In the late fall of 1861, Confederate Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer was given the task of guarding the Cumberland Gap, an important mountain pass located where Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky border each other. Zollicoffer...
Captain Eugene Carr’s Report on the Battle of Wilson’s Creek
On August 10th, 1861, a Union Army force of 5400 men under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon attacked a much larger Confederate army of approximately 12,000 at a location along a stream...
William T. Sherman’s Report on His Brigade’s Action at the First Battle of Bull Run
William T. Sherman is best known as a Union general in the western theatre of the Civil War, especially for his Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea. But before he was promoted to...
General Ulysses S. Grant Takes Paducah Kentucky
When the Civil War began in 1861, the state of Kentucky was officially neutral. Though this border state had slavery and a large number of Confederate sympathizers, Kentucky leaned slightly more toward the Union,...
Major Samuel Sturgis’ Report on the Battle of Wilson’s Creek
Early on the morning of August 10th, 1861, 5,400 Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon attacked a Confederate force of 11,000 under the command of Brigadier General Ben McCullough at...
First Battle of Bull Run Facts and Trivia
Also known as: First Manassas Date: July 21st, 1861 Location: Fairfax and Prince William Counties, Virginia Approximate troop strength: Union 28,450; Confederate 32,230 Commanders: Brigadier General Irvin McDowell (Union); Brigadier Generals Pierre Beauregard and...
Trent Affair Concludes; Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War Created: December 1861
December 1861 in the Civil War As fall turned into the winter of 1861, the inaction that had characterized the main Federal armies in November continued on into December. Although President Abraham Lincoln tried...