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,...
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...
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...
In 1864, Union General William T. Sherman burned the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta, at the time was under control of the Confederacy and had the number one railway that was used in the South. The burning of Atlanta was the first part of General Sherman’s march through the South called “March to the Sea”; five weeks later his march ended in Savanna. This was considered a triumph...
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....
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...
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...
In the fourth year of the American Civil War, the country found itself in a pivotal moment in history. With no certainty of how long the nation would remain engaged in a bloody stalemate, the American citizens had the power to steer themselves out of political, militant, social and economic unrest. The Election of 1864 poised the Confederacy-backed Democratic Party against Republican and...
George N. Linns, a plantation owner in Jefferson County, Colorado who owned many of his slaves at a time of war was forced to release them (Thomas, as he was named by his slave master George was one of these slaves). At age 22 Thomas was a young black man and he was forced to serve as a soldier for the European American army in 1865. He was not well educated in reading or writing and neither well...
Florida became United States territory in 1821. Up until then, the Spanish had ruled the land for almost three hundred years. When Florida achieved statehood, the total population was twelve thousand, the majority consisting of free blacks, fugitive slaves, or Seminole, Creek or Mikasuki Indians. Some blacks found the more relaxed racial climate to their liking. By the 1730s, Spanish Florida existed...