Episodes Nearest to December 9, 1864 to December 12, 1864: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Chaplain Lorenzo Barber: 'The Fighting Parson'
    date December 9, 1864 to December 12, 1864map DINWIDDIE, Virginiatags Petersburg campaign, Weldon Railroad, Sharpshooters, Civil War

    In his report dated December 16, 1864, Chaplain Lorenzo Barber’s brigade had just finished what he called the destruction of “one of the most important railroads in the so-called Confederacy.”  But even with his reputation as “one of the best shots in the army” and the nickname of “The Fighting Parson,” Barber revealed the inner struggle he felt as a minister and a soldier when he...

  2. Sherman's Arrival
    date December 16, 1864map LIBERTY, Georgiatags African-Americans, Slavery, War, Women

    It was the morning of December 16, 1864 and the rumors were rampant. Sherman was in Savannah. And it was true. But it was not until the sixteenth of December that many of the residents of Liberty County, Georgia realized this first hand. Sent out on a foraging party, twelve to fifteen Union troops from General Kilpatrick's camp stumbled upon the plantation of Cornelia Jones Pond and her family...

  3. The End's in Sight in Nashville
    date December 15, 1864 to December 16, 1864map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags War

    Major-General George H. Thomas had done it. In a telegram sent to President Abraham Lincoln and Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas described, "The woods, fields and entrenchments are strewn with the enemy's small arms, abandoned in their retreat." Following the overwhelming Union victory at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, General John M. Schofield joined the rest of Federal...

  4. Hardee Refuses to Surrender Savannah
    date December 17, 1864 to December 18, 1864map CHATHAM, Georgiatags Migration/Transportation, War

    On December 17, 1864 Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his army were hovering on the doorstep to Savannah, Georgia. Just four days before on December 13, Union forces had overrun Fort McAllister, a Confederate earthwork fortification built primarily for defense against naval attacks. With Fort McAllister toppled, Sherman was poised to sack Savannah.

    He sent the head of Confederate...

  5. A Confederate Surgeon Establishes A Field-Hospital After the Battle of Franklin
    date November 30, 1864map WILLIAMSON, Tennesseetags Battle of Franklin, Science/Technology, Medicine/Health

    Large numbers of casualties and advanced weaponry made it necessary for surgeons to travel with military units during the Civil War.  While they could take surgeons along with them, they could not transport hospitals.  As a result, surgeons often had to improvise, turning abandoned buildings (when available) into makeshift hospitals or setting up field camps behind battle lines.  Deering J. Roberts,...

  6. Michael Sutton Treated in Southern Hospital
    date November, 1864map NEW HANOVER, North Carolinatags Health/Death, War

    Michael Sutton was enlisted in the 51st Regiment of North Carolina, and was wounded at Cool Arbor. He was treated at a hospital in Wilmington in 1864. He received adequate care, but the experience was not a positive one. The meals were not always good, and the hospital was rather stinted for food. His rations for four days included one pound of bacon and eighteen ounces of cornmeal, and daily half...

  7. The Great Escape (From Fort Warren)
    date November, 1864map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, War

    On a cold night in November 1864, an anonymous prisoner, who referred to himself as "John Paul Brown" in Boston's Dollar Monthly Magazine, assumed the guise of a carriage driver, hijacked a parked supply wagon carrying vegetables, and, "with an artistic flourish of the whip, drove through the opened gates, unrecognized and unchallenged." Several days previously, his accomplice, whom...

  8. An English traveler's view of the Civil War
    date November, 1864map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags Race Relations, Civil War

    Racial tensions ran high in mid-to-late 19th century Louisville, Kentucky. The Civil War and slavery were two topics of main concern for many southerners. John Francis Campbell, a man from England who visited America in the fall of 1864 wrote of his travels in his memoir, “A Short American Tramp on the Fall of 1864.” As he writes of Louisville, one can feel not only the racial tension, but the...

  9. General Early Protects Augusta County, Virginia's Economy
    date November 12, 1864 to November 13, 1864map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Economy, Government, War

    During 1864, General Jubal Anderson Early commanded the Confederate Army in its last invasions of the North. Early routed almost two-thirds of Sheridan's forces at the Battle of Cedar Creek (October 19, 1864), but Sheridan's forces quickly rallied to defeat Early in a decisive victory there, leaving the remaining troops hungry and exhausted. After the defeat, most of Early's troops would...

  10. Threats from a Union Leader to a Confederate Leader
    date November 11, 1864map RICHMOND, Virginiatags John S. Mosby, Confederate Army, Civil War

    Colonel John S. Mosby of the 1st Virginia Cavalry was known as the “Grey Ghost” because of his ability to elude and disappear from his Union opponents in the Civil War.  His thoughts and memories are captured in a collection of writings that he wrote throughout the Civil War.  These writings span from his early adulthood in 1855 to the end of the Civil War in 1865. 

    One...

  11. Siege of Petersburg
    date June 9, 1864 to April 9, 1865map Prince Georges, Virginiatags War

    The Siege of Petersburg began when the Union General Ulysses S. Grant moved his target from Richmond to Petersburg. The Confederate soldiers successfully defended against the first attack, on June 9th in which the Union army, with 5,000 troops, made a “desperate attempt' to capture Petersburg. During this initial attack, “some of the best citizens of Petersburg' were wounded...

  12. Fort Fisher Captured
    date January 13, 1865 to January 15, 1865map NEW HANOVER, North Carolinatags War

    On January 13th Union troops under Gen. Alfred Terry attacked Fort Fisher both by naval vessels and by land. The fort was relatively powerless as the Union forces moved inward, however, Gen. Bragg of the Confederacy worked to construct defense lines to hold off the troops. Bragg and his men were able to defend the fort for two days until the force on the surrounding troops was too great to endure,...

  13. Northern Occupation of Little Rock Yields Friendship
    date January, 1865map PULASKI, Arkansastags Economy, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War, Women

    New to the Little Rock area, John Levering, a U.S. colonel from Indiana, needed a place for his family to live. Recently re-stationed to the city from New Orleans, he found the best hotel in town uncomfortable and unsuitable for a Union officer. In January 1865, Levering encountered a desirable solution. Levering casually visited a local, celebrated lady of society, a Mrs. S--, and informed her...

  14. Wilmington, North Carolina is taken by the Union
    date January, 1865map NEW HANOVER, North Carolinatags Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    According to a late Confederate soldier, after the capitol of the Confederacy, Wilmington, North Carolina was the most important place in the South. It lay just two miles north of the Cape Fear River, right on the Atlantic coast. Wilmington was an important port for the export of tar, turpentine, pitch, and lumber. The people of this small North Carolinian town were shrewd, hospitable, intelligent,...

  15. Passage of Shermans Special Orders No. 15
    date January 16, 1865map CHATHAM, Georgiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    Although many regard war as good for absolutely nothing, the truth of the matter is that troops are not the only things that advance in war. In fact, some of the greatest advancements made by mankind in fields ranging from medicine to the arts can trace their roots to military necessity. One such example made in the field of Civil Rights during the American Civil War was Special Field Orders Number...

  16. Subsistence Bureau Circular
    date November 3, 1864map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, War

    Written after the passage of an impressments law, explained in General Orders No. 69 on August 27, 1864, this circular from the Confederacy's War Department in Richmond decries the lack of subsistence being provided for the war effort. Essentially, General Orders No. 69 held that “every exempt and detailed agriculturists' (i.e. plantation farmers, mainly) was to provide “100 pounds...

  17. All Quiet on the Petersburg Front ... Or Was It?  Confederate Fort Harrison Lost to Union Army
    date September 28, 1864 to December 9, 1864map HENRICO, Virginiatags Civil War, Petersburg campaign, Fort Harrison, Fort Burnham

    According to the official chronology of skirmishes in the ongoing Battle of Petersburg, the time frame between the first major battle in June of 1864 and up to the final showdown in April of 1865 might appear relatively quiet.  It had been three years since a large number of these men had been recruited, and their term of service was soon to end – leaving many of them hoping to quietly finish...

  18. Prisoners of War
    date October 25, 1864map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Health/Death, Government, War

    Prisoners of war often suffered the worstamong soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Eugene Davis was one such prisoner of war at Elmira Military Prison in 1864. The two most infamous Civil War prisons opened that year in Andersonville, Georgiaand at Elmira, New York. After he arrived in Elmira, Davis wrote to his family in Albemarle County, who promptly wrote him back. He received letters from...

  19. Iowan Earns Medal of Honor for Capturing General
    date October 25, 1864map OSAGE, Kansastags Politics, Civil War, Health/Death

    James  Dunlavy received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest US military honor, on October 25, 1864 for his single-handed capture of Confederate Major General John S. Marmaduke.  He is one of five Medal of Honor recipients buried in Oklahoma, in Dunlavy’s case in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery in Maramec, Oklahoma. During the capture of Marmaduke, Dunlavy performed...

  20. General Orders to CSA Forces
    date October 22, 1864map HENRICO, Virginiatags War

    Issued at the command of Brigadier General T.L. Rosser, this release of general orders is meant to warn against and dissuade poor behavior within the Confederate forces. Quoting the first line of the orders, “the want of discipline has been the cause of additional disaster to this army.' Responding to such indiscretions as breaking rank during battle for the purpose of plundering or desertion...

  21. Thirteenth Amendment Approved by Congress
    date January 31, 1865map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    After much anticipation, on January 31st the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery. Pushed by President Abraham Lincoln, the Thirteenth Amendment worked within a year to wipe out slavery across every state in America. Immediately after the amendment was approved there was a popular demonstration supporting the decision....

  22. Educational Needs Sparked by the Thirteenth Amendment
    date January 31, 1865map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Education for blacks, Abolition, Law, Slavery, african americans

    While most northern newspapers were printing articles celebrating the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, the Daily National Intelligencer published a sobering editorial that focused on the challenges still facing the nation.  This editorial, printed on February 1, 1865 in response to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Congress, recognized the great accomplishment but also pointed...

  23. Opposition to Special Field Order No. 15
    date February 1, 1865map APPLING, Georgiatags Agriculture, Government, Slavery

    John C. Robinson never owned any slaves. He was born in Binghamton, New York and served as a Union general during the Civil War. Despite his Northern background, Robinson objected to the passage of Special Field Order No. 15, which granted massive amounts of land to former slaves in January of 1865. On February 1, 1865 Robinson sent a letter to President Abraham Lincoln in which he argued against...

  24. The War Through the Eyes of a Child
    date August 1, 1864 to January 4, 1865map FULTON, Georgiatags War

    Ten-year-old Carrie Berry lived with her family in Atlanta, Georgia in 1864 while Union general Sherman tried to capture Atlanta. The diary that Berry kept daily shows the immediate effect of the war on her and her family.

    Sherman's offensive against Atlanta brought a lot of damage to the city, and made things very difficult for the residents. Berry wrote about the difficulties her family...

  25. Atlanta Burns- The climax of a young girl's wartime journal
    date August 1, 1864 to January 4, 1865map FULTON, Georgiatags Civil War, youth eye witness, Carrie Berry, General Sherman, "March to the Sea"

     Paralyzed by fear she sat in the cellar praying to survive the Union attack on Dixie.  The Berry estate was a sitting duck amongst cross fire between Union and Confederate soldiers as ammunitions echo in the yard.  Carrie Berry describes the daily “shellings” or constant barrage of gunfire as it penetrates the house, ricochets off trees and pierces the ground above.  Sometimes the ammunitions...