Episodes Around: 18630105

  1. Families Split
    date April 27, 1861 to 1864map HENRICO, Virginiatags Health/Death, War, Women

    After leaving Richmond on his way to Harper's Ferry, Thomas Jackson quickly wrote his wife Mary Anna on April 27, 1861 telling her of his reassignment. The Governor appointed him Colonel of the Virginia Volunteers; he was honored to hold such an independent position but warned Mary Anna, whom he affectionately called little one, that they would probably not be able to correspond for quite some...

  2. William Bartlett Sustains Many Wounds
    date April, 1862 to 1864map CHARLOTTE, Virginiatags War

    Captain William Bartlett suffered from multiple wounds throughout the course of the war. Even so, he continued to serve for the duration and received numerous commendations for his bravery. An unusual man, Bartlett started out as a private in the Fourth Battalion of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia fighting a war that "went against his principles." Born in Massachusetts, he was a Confederate sympathizer...

  3. The Gruesome History of a Wartime Steamboat
    date 1863 to October 30, 1864map AVOYELLES, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, War

    The Civil War diary of John L. Sharitt, Jr., a Confederate soldier, describes the repugnant state of war that he daily faced.Because of the hopelessness of the southern cause and his desire to return home before more destruction damaged Louisiana.On October 30, 1864, while aboard a boat at Norman's Landing, Louisiana, Sharitt reveals the history of the boat.The boat had been captured by the...

  4. Slaves in the War
    date 1863map MOBILE, Alabamatags African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Throughout southern history, masters continually feared that their slaves would rise up against them. When the Civil War broke, this was exacerbated by the fear that slaves would join the Union army. Louis Hughes was a slave from Mississippi. As the war progressed, Union armies came closer and closer to his hometown until ultimately they came through and destroyed Panola. Masters feared for their...

  5. Fire and Steel: Weaponry of the Confederacy
    date 1863map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Science/Technology, War

    Cannons and rifles perform a cacophony of blood and thunder as the cold steel of bayonets slice through the enemy line. Deadly technology meets close quarters fighting and Napoleonic tactics, and the result is not pretty.

    These deadly weapons are listed in detail in Col. J. Gorgas' The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the Confederate States Army....

  6. Wyatt's Imprisonment
    date January 5, 1863map NELSON, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The common practice of hiring out one's slaves ensured that even when work was less plentiful on the plantation, a master's investment in a slave would still be lucrative. A slave in this position identified only as Wyatt landed himself in jail after attempting repeatedly to be sold back to the plantation where his family resided. The current owners who had been trying to sell him wrote...

  7. Jefferson Davis Addresses Free States
    date January 5, 1863map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    The people of the Union heard from a defiant Jefferson Davis on January 5, 1863. Northern leaders had degraded you and themselves, he criticized, by inviting the co-operation of the black race with Abraham Lincoln's proclamation freeing slaves in the Confederacy and inviting them into the North's army and navy. Just before, the Union had been condemning the South for seeking the intervention...