Episodes Nearest to August 1, 1862 to January 31, 1865: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Union Sentiment in Arkansas
    date October 29, 1863map PULASKI, Arkansastags Politics, War

    By the fall of 1863, the Union army began a series of successful campaigns along the Mississippi Valley. Following the Union capture of Little Rock, Colonel C.C. Andrews wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln regarding Union sentiment in Arkansas. On October 29, 1863 he wrote, The loyal sentiment of the people [was] gaining, though slowly. Andrews wrote that Union officials would hold a meeting...

  2. A Wait For Battle Evokes Emotion
    date November 5, 1863map HAMILTON, Tennesseetags Civil War, Art/Leisure

    On the November 5, 1863 Matt Turner wrote his mother a letter as he waited for the next battle.  Turner explained that the waiting had been on going since the previous charge where the “Yankees” had gained a lot of ground.  With the continuation of his letter, Turner wrote of his feelings of foreshadowing, when he said they had not seen the last of war and that another gory battle would occur...

  3. The Western Sanitary Commission Requests Approval to Support Freed Slaves
    date November 6, 1863map ST LOUIS, Missouritags African-Americans, Health/Death, Economy, War

    Since the beginning of the Civil War, the Western Sanitary Commission served armies west of the Mississippi by providing service and supplies to wounded soldiers. On November 6, 1863, the commission looked to broaden its mission. Five representatives from the organization wrote to President Lincoln expressing concern that the state of freed slaves in the Mississippi Valley was daily becoming worse....

  4. Louisiana Lady Battles with Regional and Human Attraction
    date October 17, 1863 to November 5, 1863map DE SOTO, Louisianatags Agriculture, Politics, Migration/Transportation, War, Women

    As a young twenty-two year old Louisiana woman, Miss Sidney Harding was completely caught off-guard when her prosperous family had to flee their plantation because of Yankee pressure and become Civil War refugees in DeSoto Parish, LA.Harding was not unlike other southern women: she faced internal and external conflicts throughout her years as a refugee.OnOctober 17, 1863, Harding commented on the...

  5. Rebel General Gantt Tells Arkansas to Return to the Union
    date November 8, 1863 to November 9, 1863map PULASKI, Arkansastags Health/Death, African-Americans, Race-Relations, Government, Politics

    Confederate Brigadier General E.W. Gantt spoke to his fellow citizens of Arkansas, but also to all of the citizens of the South in his 1863 address.  The message in this address is that the Confederacy was fighting a war that they could never win and that the southern states would have more power and property if they would just return to the Union.  The General blamed several of the problems in...

  6. True Love
    date November, 1863 to 1863map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Love letter, Marriage, Civil War

    During the Civil War era of 1863, Harvey Black, a Confederate surgeon to the Army of Northern Virginia, described in a love letter the great affection he had for his wife Mary.  He wrote about their first encounter when he was seventeen and she just eight years old.  Harvey described, “I became so favorably impressed with her fair face and gentle manners that I frequently said to myself that...

  7. The Battle of Bristoe Station
    date October 14, 1863map PRINCE WILLIAM, Virginiatags War

    After the Battle of Gettysburg, Union General George G. Meade and Robert E. Lee of the Confederates headed south to Virginia in a footrace to gain a position in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At Bristoe Station, Virginia, Federal and Confederate corps crossed paths, and battle ensued. Confederate General A.P. Hill underestimated the size of the Union army and attacked an overwhelmingly large Union...

  8. Catherine Wills Wears a Hair Locket to the Dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery
    date November 19, 1863map ADAMS, Pennsylvaniatags religious activity, Civil War, Women, Death

     

    To commemorate the deaths of her two young sons, David Jr., and James, Catherine Wills wore a mourning broach.  The gold broach containing one blonde and one brunette lock of hair with a black ring around it was a fairly generic piece of jewelry during the nineteenth century.  Like many others who attended the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and...

  9. The Establishment of the United States Colored Troops
    date October 13, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    In the midst of the Civil War, with its end undetermined, the War Department in Washington, D.C., requested the Lieutenant Colonel George Wagner to serve as the Captain for the Eighth Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops. The U.S. Colored Troops had been established only a month before Wagner received this request. Many of the men within the Colored Troops had originally escaped into Washington where...

  10. Alfred Bell’s letter to his wife of 23 November 1863
    date November 23, 1863map OTTAWA, Ohiotags Civil War, prison

    Captain Alfred Bell was ailing in late November 1863.  Too sick even to write to his wife, Capt. Bell had his friend G.F. Wilson transcribe a letter for him on 23 November 1863.  Bell and Wilson were both prisoners of war (POWs) at Johnson’s Island, Ohio during this time, and this wasn’t the greatest of periods for Captain Bell.  Aside from the obvious misfortune of being imprisoned, Bell...

  11. The Battle of Knoxville
    date November 29, 1863map KNOX, Tennesseetags War

    A severely uneven battle, the Battle of Knoxville was almost as done as soon as it began. The battle on November 29, 1863, highlighted incompetent Confederate planning and a very easy victory for the Union. Led by Major General Lafayette McLaws, the Confederate army planned a surprise attack on Fort Sanders in hopes of seizing access to Knoxville. However, in a series of mistakes, the Confederates...

  12. The Anticipation of War News
    date October 3, 1863map ITAWAMBA, Mississippitags War

    In 1863 the state of Mississippi found itself entrenched in a massive war of attrition against its northern neighbors. Men from the South donned gray and marched off to battle, leaving those who did not join the ranks to fend for themselves on the home front. Rev. Samuel Agnew of Lee, Mississippi was one of these individuals. Agnew and others like himself found that they could not easily keep the...

  13. Advances In Education For Women
    date October 1, 1863map PRINCE EDWARD, Virginiatags Women, Education, Published Women

    The document entitled "The Next Term of This Institution will commence Thursday, October 1st, 1863" was a notice, authored by A. Preot, that described Farmville Female College. The information in the notice pertains to the term that was scheduled to begin on October 1, 1863. The notice included the subjects that were offered by Farmville Female College, as well as the courses of study that students...

  14. Wheeler's Cavalry Checks Foster's Position in Tennessee
    date December 3, 1863map CLAIBORNE, Tennesseetags War, Civil War

    In December of 1863 in Tennessee, as William T. Sherman marched a column of troops to relieve men who were believed to be in peril in Knoxville, J.G. Foster was cut off from Sherman by a division of Confederate cavalry under General Joseph Wheeler. Unable to move, Foster telegraphed Major General Gordon Granger, Commander of the Army of Kentucky and the man responsible for running cavalry operations...

  15. Union Artillery during Picketts Charge
    date September 27, 1863map ADAMS, Pennsylvaniatags War

    Pickett's Charge is known as one of the worst mistakes made by the Confederacy in the Civil War. Robert E. Lee sent 15,000 Confederate soldiers into an open field in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania hoping for the best and instead he lost entire regiments at the hands of the Army of the Potomac. Their failure was made possible by Union quick thinking and Union artillery. Reports from Brigadier General...

  16. Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
    date December 8, 1863map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Slavery

    Lincoln issued this proclamation with hopes of expediting Reconstruction. By this time during the war, a vast portion of Confederate states were under Federal control and needed reorganization of their governments. His plan proposed that if ten percent of a state's voter population swore allegiance to the future alliance of the United States as well as approving Emancipation, then Reconstruction...

  17. William T. Stockton
    date December 7, 1863 to December 12, 1863map SANDUSKY, Ohiotags Civil War, prisoner

    William T. Stockton was a confederate soldier serving in the Florida Militia during the Civil War, acting as the Major and Lieutenant Colonel for the 1st Florida Calvary Regiment. Before this, he had been elected mayor of Quincy, Florida several times, as well as being married and having 9 children with his wife Julia. He served honorably during the Civil War, even returning from a nasty facial...

  18. General William Rosecrans' Report at the Battle of Chickamauga
    date September 19, 1863 to September 20, 1863map HAMILTON, Tennessee, WALKER, Georgiatags William Rosecrans, The Battle of Chickamauga, Civil War

    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...

  19. From Infantryman to Staff Officer: The Battle of Chickamauga Through the Eyes of Ambrose Bierce
    date September 19, 1863 to September 20, 1863map HAMILTON, Tennessee, WALKER, Georgiatags War, literature

    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...

  20. James A. Garfield at Chickamauga
    date September 19, 1863 to September 20, 1863map WALKER, Georgiatags The Battle of Chickamauga, James A. Garfield

    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...

  21. Braxton Bragg's Chickamauga: Trouble with the Brass
    date September 19, 1863 to September 20, 1863map CATOOSA, Georgia, WALKER, Georgiatags The Battle of Chickamauga, Braxton Bragg

    General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee was in sore need of a decisive victory in September 1863. Following the Army's failed invasion of Kentucky in 1862, Bragg had been steadily pushed out of Middle and Eastern Tennessee and into Georgia without putting up much of a fight. General William Rosecrans had proven a formidable commander of the opposing Army of the Cumberland. After General James...

  22. Lincoln Demotes Burnside After Resignation Letter
    date September 17, 1863map KNOX, Tennesseetags Civil War, Politics, Government

    In the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg, there have been three main reasons given arguing that Ambrose Burnside should bear all of the blame. Contempioraries and historians have pointed to the delay of pontoon bridges, the distrust of Burnside within the Army of the Potomac, and lastly the presence of partisanship in the army.  The overwhelming evidence, however, still points to Burnside’s...

  23. Carrie Childer's Written Hope
    date September 15, 1863map POLK, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Civil War, Irregular Warfare

         Throughout the Civil War in Missouri many citizens lived in fear of the bands of guerrilla soldiers. Among these citizens was a woman by the name Carrie Childers. On September 15, 1863 Carrie Childers of Bolivar, Missouri wrote to Capt. Rowan E. M. Mack in Cassville, Missouri a letter concerning the Rebel activity occurring in her local area. She informs Capt. Mack that guerrillas are...

  24. African American Spies in the Civil War
    date September 14, 1863map COLLETON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, War

    William Stokes climbed to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th South Carolina Cavalry unit while serving for the Confederate Army from January 1862 to April 1865. In his diary, Stokes highlighted the major events throughout his three-year term of enlistment in the Civil War. Specifically, he noted a number of occasions in which his regiment came in contact with both African American soldiers...

  25. The Battle of Sabine Pass
    date September 8, 1863map JEFFERSON, Texastags War

    One of a few Union attempts to gain occupation of parts of Texas during the Civil War, the Battle of Sabine Pass was a land versus sea battle. The unique aspect of this battle was the disparity of numbers and the lack of arms that the Texans faced in their match-up with the Union Army. A Houston saloonkeeper named Dick Dowling heroically led a significantly smaller force of around fifty Irish-born...