Episodes Nearest to May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Battle of Vicksburg
    date May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags War

    Rather than an imminent clash, this battle was a protracted siege occurring of over the better part of two months. Half of the confederate army had been killed in previous battles, but a Union general reported that between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand Confederates remained holed up in Vicksburg. Each day the Confederate force grew weaker as they were plagued by disease and starvation. Continued...

  2. Entitled 31st Alabama Infantry’s Stand at the Railroad Redoubt in Vicksburg.
    date May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Civil War, Vicksburg

    “It was a tornado of iron on our left, a hurricane of shot on our right…we passed through the mouth of hell.” These are the words of a Union soldier who was part of the 21st Iowa Infantry Regiment that led the federal assault on Confederate fortifications along the Southern Mississippi Railroad in Vicksburg. Major George W. Mathieson, commander of the 31st Alabama Infantry, unleashed this...

  3. Entitled Confederate Artillery in Defense of the Mississippi River along Vicksburg.
    date May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Artillery, Vicksburg, Civil War

    A citizen of Vicksburg observed that during the siege "nothing was spared by the shells; the churchs fared especially severly, and the reverend clergy had narrow escapes." This was brought upon by Ulysses S. Grant, who had taken control of the entire Mississippi River save the couple miles being guarded by the Confederate troops at Vicksburg. Grant launched his attack on Vicksburg on May 18, 1863....

  4. 19th Arkansas Infantry in the Battle of Vicksburg
    date May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Civil War, Vicksburg, Colonel Thomas P. Dockery, 19th Arkansas Infantry

    The colonel paused briefly before moving his troops into line to make eye contact with his superior and friend Brig. General Martin Green. Colonel Thomas P. Dockery grew up in a rich railroad dynasty family so he understood the importance the coming battle had to the protection of supply lines, specifically those running through the Mississippi River. Commanding an outstanding infantry of the Second...

  5. The Burning of Darien
    date June 12, 1863map MC INTOSH, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, War

    With the exception of two white women and two African Americans, the town of Darien, Georgia was deserted when the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, the first all black regiment of the Union army, and the Second South Carolina Volunteers, a regiment of freed slaves, marched in on the afternoon of June 12, 1863. Neither the town nor its four inhabitants posed any threat to the Union forces....

  6. Battle of Brandy Station
    date June 9, 1863map CULPEPER, Virginiatags War

    This battle was the largest cavalry battle during the war, despite the terrain not being suited to cavalry battles, full of rolling hills with scattered clumps of trees, and it represented the height of the superiority of Confederate cavalry skill. Previously, the Confederate cavalry had consistently demonstrated its superior ability, but the prowess of the Union troops was on the rise, and subsequent...

  7. Waul's Texas Legion in the Battle of Vicksburg
    date May 12, 1863 to July 4, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Vicksburg, Civil War, Waul's Texas Legion, May 22, 1863, Colonel T.N. Waul

    The morning officially began at 10:00 AM as the war-weary men of Waul’s Texas Legion lined up shoulder to gray-clad shoulder in Vicksburg, Mississippi; the perfect time for brunch.  But it would forever remain in the minds of the Confederates as the beginning of a fight for their everything-- land, honor, freedom, liberty, property—at the one site most important to hold for any chance of Confederate...

  8. Union Battery in the Campaign for Vicksburg
    date May 2, 1863 to July 27, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Second Iowa Battery, Joseph R. Reed, Union, Vicksburg, Civil War

    The Union Army achieved a decisive victory in the battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, with the city surrendering to General Ulysses Grant on July 4, 1863.  The battery divisions effectively utilized the large guns and cannons of the army, which were crucial to the Union victory at Vicksburg.  First Lieutenant Joseph R. Reed of the Second Iowa Battery in the Union Army belonged to one of these battery...

  9. Siege of Port Hudson
    date May 21, 1863 to July 9, 1863map EAST BATON ROUG, Louisianatags African-Americans, War

    Port Hudson was another confederate stronghold of 6,800 troops. Nearly forty thousand Union troops arrived here and began a full assault, but the Confederates successfully defended themselves, as the Union regiments were uncoordinated, and the Confederates had spent the past year preparing the terrain for an assault. The terrain was varied and difficult to traverse: “a series of ridges;high...

  10. Battle at Milliken's Bend
    date June 7, 1863map MADISON, Louisianatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    A very bloody battle, here African American soldiers fought alongside Caucasian soldiers for one of the first of many times during the war. Nearly fifteen hundred Union troops, mostly African-Americans, fought side by side against the two or three thousand Confederates stationed there. However, there still was not racially equal treatment of the soldiers, as the white soldiers rode forward on horseback,...

  11. Rachel Cormany Recounts Her Experiences of Gettysburg Campaign
    date June 15, 1863 to June 18, 1863map ADAMS, Pennsylvaniatags War, Women

    Rachel Cormany recorded her experiences of the civil war in her diary of the time that the Gettysburg campaign was taking place. She lived in a place close by called Chambersburg. On June 15, 1863 she wrote how she saw all sorts of wagon trains make their way through the town. She experienced the panic that shot through the town due to the Rebels. There had been a cry that the Rebels were in...

  12. 54th Massachusetts regiment sent to South Carolina
    date May 28, 1863map BEAUFORT, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    The first African American regiment, this group left Boston to head south to Port Royal, South Carolina, to fight for the Union army and demonstrate the capabilities of black soldiers. The enthusiasm of the troops was matched only by their numbers, a full regiment of fresh soldiers. In Boston, the regiment received a warm send-off, and the cheering crowds wishing them well were as vast as “have...

  13. Analysis of the contributions of the engineers of the Seventeenth Army Corps under Union General John Logan along Jackson Road during the Battle of Vicksburg.
    date April 17, 1863 to July 4, 1863map JACKSON, Mississippitags "Civil War", "Vicksburg" "engineer", "Jackson Road"

            Exhibiting adaptability and skill in constructing trenches and mines to counter Confederate resistance, Captain Andrew Hickenlooper, chief engineer of the Seventeenth Army Corps under Union General John Logan, had an integral role in shaping the Union course of events at the siege of Vicksburg in the spring and summer months of 1863 by overseeing one of three efforts in constructing...

  14. An account of an engineering captain in the Graveyard Road approach during the Battle of Vicksburg of the Civil War.
    date June 19, 1863 to July 4, 1863map JACKSON, Mississippitags "Vicksburg", "Civl War", "Graveyard Road", "engineer"

           Dispersing an already short supply of soldiers, artillery, and engineers, who dug trenches and pushed sap rollers, which were spherical devices filled with cotton that guarded engineers, the two unsuccessful approaches of the Union army to penetrate the city of Vicksburg in 1863 demonstrate the highly complex, yet haphazard nature in which war was engaged during the battle and throughout...

  15. Shelbyville Affects the Letter From An Everyday Soldier
    date June 27, 1863map BEDFORD, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, War

    Matt Turner was an assistant surgeon caught in battle at Shelbyville with a little time to write his mother.  The letter thought brief gave a great account to the attack that occurred in Tennessee from the 24th to the 28th of June in 1863.  Turner gave the account of his army “falling back” and being “flanked” by the enemy, the hospital he feared would soon fall and...

  16. Heroines of the South
    date May 25, 1863map DE KALB, Alabamatags Roles of Women, Women of the South, Southern Women

    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. ...

  17. Pennsylvania Captain Writes His Final Letter Home
    date June 28, 1863map FREDERICK, Marylandtags Civil War, Pennsylvania Regiments

    Captain David Acheson, Company C of the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, about thirty miles south of Pittsburgh. Robert L. Stewart remarked that Acheson was "one of the most promising young men in the College Class" at the then Washington College (now known as Washington & Jefferson College). A very thoughtful and god fearing young man, Acheson enlisted during...

  18. On the Way to Gettysburg: John B. Gordon’s “Chivalrous” War Tactics
    date June 28, 1863map YORK, Pennsylvaniatags John Brown Gordon, Wrightsville, Civil War

    “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...

  19. Infantry in the Failed May Attacks on Vicksburg
    date May 22, 1863 to May 23, 1863map WARREN, Mississippitags Fifty-fifth Illinois, William C. Porter, Union, Vicksburg, Civil War

    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...

  20. A Five-Year-Old Girl Meets her Confederate Father
    date May, 1863 to August, 1863map SUMTER, South Carolinatags Civil War, Slavery, Family and Home Life, Military, Food/Provisions

    Mrs. Doane remembers the hard work that had to be done on her South Carolina plantation while her father was away at war.  Though they never saw any Yankees, Confederate soldiers were frequent guests at the Cumming’s home.  Ragged and half-starved, these desperate soldiers took full liberties to raid their provisions, passing in hordes and killing their chickens.  Mrs. Cummings, however, did...

  21. 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...

  22. Laura Merrick Entertains Union Soldiers
    date May 21, 1863map EAST FELICIANA, Louisianatags Arts/Leisure, War, Women

    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...

  23. 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....

  24. Chamberlain Holds His Ground at Little Round Top
    date July 2, 1863map ADAMS, Pennsylvaniatags Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, War

    On July 2, 1863, the second day of Battle at Gettysburg, a crisis was at hand for the Union army. General Daniel E. Sickles, commanding the Third Corps, had moved his men off higher ground, which included Little Round Top, and created a line running from the Peach Orchard to Devil's Den. This placed the Union left flank open for an attack. Chief Engineer General Gouvernur K. Warren atop Little...

  25. The Burning of the Culp Home
    date July 1, 1863 to July 3, 1863map ADAMS, Pennsylvaniatags Crime/Violence, Civil War

    In an effort to take revenge on the North, the ninth regiment of Alabama volunteers burned the Culp home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the Gettysburg campaign.  The reasons for this destruction are dictated by the volunteers, as after they burnt the Culp home they left a short, crudely handwritten note to the owners of the property.  The note clearly indicates the intentions of the Confederate...