Civil War
Articles on the American Civil War and the principle figures involved. Includes timelines and detailed descriptions.
Articles on the American Civil War and the principle figures involved. Includes timelines and detailed descriptions.
In the fall of 1864, the Union Army now had full momentum against the Confederacy, pushing deeper into the South than ever before. General Sherman overwhelmed forces led by John Bell Hood. With the fall of Atlanta, Lincoln nearly assured his re-election in 1864. Changes after Chattanooga After the Union…
What if the South Won the Civil War? Here's a take on that quest from author H.W. Crocker III. So just suppose that Abraham Lincoln had let the South go. What if he had said the following: We part as friends. We hope to reunite as friends. There will be…
George Armstrong Custer, always known as Armstrong or Autie to his friends (or Fanny to his West Point classmates, in honor of his girlish golden curls), was the North’s equivalent of Stuart. At West Point, he wasn’t much for studying but he loved to ride and was popular with his…
The Background Battle of Chattanooga: In the background of Battle of Chattanooga - Rosecrans had performed badly at Chickamauga, fleeing the field. Grant sacked him and appointed the Rock of Chickamauga, General Thomas, to replace the Runner of Chickamauga. General Thomas had the task of holding Chattanooga at all costs—and…
There’s a special place in the Confederate pantheon for J.E.B. Stuart because he personified one of the archetypes of the South—the gay cavalier, who mocked danger, flirted with women, kept prayer book in hand, knew horseflesh, loved racing, and responded to the plink of a banjo. Stuart not only kept…
In physique Philip Sheridan was shaped like the Fighting Irish leprechaun of Notre Dame. He was only five feet five inches tall, mostly body with scant legs, long arms attached to ready fists, and slit eyes that burned defiance. Abraham Lincoln described Sheridan as “a brown, chunky little chap, with…
Wade Hampton was to the manor born. One of the largest landholders in the South, educated in the Southern gentlemanly tradition, skilled with guns and horses, courtly with women, experienced in politics, one would expect that he was cut from the same scarlet cloak as the dashing cavalryman he served…
The popular image of William Tecumseh Sherman is of a roughhewn, high-strung (to the point of insanity), ravager of the South. The image is reinforced by photographs of the Federal general. His hair is often unkempt, his look stern, and his countenance apparently reflecting an ill-tempered mind. But the Sherman…
History of Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee was the general of the war. What George Washington was to the American War of Independence, Lee was to the War for Southern Independence. But Robert E. Lee had no Admiral de Grasse, no French fleet blasting through the Federal blockade of…
The Background: In background of Battle of Appomattox, Grant gave up trying to get around Lee to Richmond, and instead opted to lay siege to Petersburg and cut Richmond’s supply lines to the south. Lee had foreseen this probability, but was powerless to prevent it. He also knew what it…