American Civil War Era. Examination of the Civil War as a political, cultural, economic and military phenomenon, with focus on the 1861-1865 period. Topics include causation historiography, major battles and their political context, the role of ordinary Americans in the conflict, slavery and emancipation, economic effects, Reconstruction, and the war’s enduring place in national memory.
At approximately 10:15 AM on the morning of July 1, 1863, Major General Abner Doubleday was thrown into command of the forces along McPherson's Ridge when his immediate superior, General John F. Reynolds, was shot and killed in the early engagement between Union and Confederate infantry. Doubleday became responsible for the entire battlefield and holding back the Confederate advances until the full...
“It was a case of adherence to the letter and neglect of the spirit; but there was no alternative except good-naturedly to admit that my men had gotten the better of me that time”—so wrote General John B. Gordon about the regrettable conduct of his soldiers as they marched through Pennsylvania on their way to Gettysburg. Gordon, being a Southern Gentleman and a reputable man, sought to bring...
Major General William Rosecrans, commander of the U.S. Army of the Cumberland, awoke nervous on September 20, 1863. His forces at Chickamauga had been assailed throughout the previous day but held their ground. Rosecrans did not know if they could withstand another day of Confederate assault, however. He also did not know that he was about to give an order that would swing the battle, the Chattanooga...
JE.B. Stuart rode into Gettysburg overdue by two gory days to General Lee’s disappointed relief. Stuart’s role until then had been to serve as Lee’s eyes delivering updates of the Union’s movements. Until Gettysburg, Stuart had built a strong and very public reputation all over the South for his flamboyance, skill and valor on the battle field. A West Point graduate, he first garnered...
The veteran soldiers geared for the attack, confident in their strategy and ability, ready to accept nothing less than success. As the enemy forces approached and the men “spearheaded the charge” with all that they had, it quickly became evident that it was not going to be enough. The “Union artillery opened” on the Confederates’ “parade-ground ranks” and the group suffered greatly...
General Ambrose Powell Hill viewed Gettysburg as his chance for redemption from a reputation as a cantankerous, argumentative and tardy leader in the Confederate Army, but the ill fate that befell his troops in the battle was not the ending he desired. It was day one of the Battle of Gettysburg and Ambrose Powell Hill was about to face his first battle as the promoted commander of the Third Corps,...
All men may be created equal but they are remembered differently. In contrast to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, August Willich was not a celebrity of the Civil War. He was a Prussian political refugee and an aristocrat with an unapologetic communistic political leaning. Willch’s communistic nature generated his pre-war nickname, “Reddest of the Red.” Yet, his tremendous contributions...
Bierce writes, “They were men. They crept upon their hands and knees. They used their hands only, dragging their legs. They used their knees only, their arms hanging idle at their sides. They strove to rise to their feet, but fell prone in the attempt.” Through chilling words Ambrose Bierce illustrated the battlefield at Chickamauga in his short story, Chickamauga. Bierce, a writer and soldier,...
George Meade was the commander of the Union Army of the Potomac during one of the most well-known battles of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863, and he is one of the war's least well-known generals. As Meade learned of the escalating battle at Gettysburg, PA on July 1, he began ordering his army toward the town. At the end of the first day, the Confederate force failed to...
James A. Garfield was by definition an opportunist, he used even his failures in life to present a heroic image and thus propel himself into political office. Such was the case when he beseeched his commanding officer after their position had been overrun and he desired to be where the Union was winning the battle (and thus seen as victorious), “Let me go to the front… It is dangerous, but the...