In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
Part of the Vicksburg campaign, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederate army led by General Joseph Johnston in a battle that was relatively insignificant for military strategy, but contributed greatly to turn the tide of public sentiment. Grant overwhelmed the Confederate army, because Johnston and his troops, though they rushed back towards the capital of Mississippi, could...
In the back of the Staunton Spectator, May 12, 1863, there appeared a section for Advertisements and Lost Property. Directly under and advertisement of ten pigs for sale, there is the section of lost property, for which rewards are offered. There are six articles that report lost animals or slaves. 50 is offered for a stolen black horse, as well as 50 for a dark bay mare. Intermixed with...
As Confederate troops marched towards Suffolk led by General James Longstreet they could hear the shells and see the signal lights over the site of the battle. They were marching to Suffolk because a Union garrison had taken over Hill?s Point and Fort Huger, which opened the Union to shipping. When they arrived at Suffolk the Confederates attacked a Union garrison led by Brig. Gen. John Peck. The...
In November, 1862, a change occurred in Union power as President Abraham Lincoln removed General George McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac. The New York Times stated, during “the fifteen months…he has had virtual control of the war have been utterly barren of results...Few commanders in history have had such splendid opportunities, and fewer still have so ostentatiously...
Thomas Jefferson “Stonewall' Jackson, shot just above his left elbow by his own soldiers who, on May 2, did not recognize him at the Battle of Chancellorsville, died from pneumonia that he caught as a complication of his wound. Immediately following the incident, one newspaper reported, “his condition is very favorable,' while others lamented that his wounds are “so bad.'...
While many of their husbands and fathers went to fight in the Civil War, Southern women were often left at home to care for their families. In Union occupied areas, soldiers made themselves comfortable in the homes of these Southern women. One rainy evening, while Laura Merrick was socializing in her parlor, five Union soldiers entered to take solace from the weather. They strangely requested that...
The battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, pitted the Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Union Major General Joseph Hooker. Stonewall Jackson came up with a plan to send Lee around to attack the left flank with only 12,000 troops. Lee won a decisive victory here, even though Hooker's troops numbered well over 70,000. After the victory, Jackson rode out to scout the terrain, and was wounded...
While the city of Vicksburg eventually fell to Union forces on July 4, 1863, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River, several failed assaults occurred prior to the successful siege. Two of the assaults took place on May 19 and 22, and Vicksburg’s defenses held against the Union infantry and artillery forces on both these occasions. Infantry forces in the Civil War often engaged in...
As General Forrest frantically searched for an alternate route across the Black Creek Ford about three miles from Gadsden, Alabama, the enemy was quickly approaching. The stream was overflowing and the bridge was broken so General Forrest retreated into the town in hopes of locating another way around the flooded creek. Upon entry into the town, General Forrest knocked upon a stranger’s door. ...