Eric | December 29, 2011
December 29, 1861 (Sunday) Since the Union defeat at the Battle of Bull Run, Ambrose Burnside had been promoted from colonel to brigadier-general and placed in command of the rawest recruits in the Army of the Potomac, under General George McClellan. Quickly growing bored of being little more than a glorified drill sergeant, Burnside, along [...]
Eric | December 21, 2011
December 21, 1861 (Saturday) In Missouri, General Sterling Price had not been feeling very loved by the Confederate Government. His command, the Missouri State Guards, was still an independent command and in great need of reinforcements. The closest troops were under General Ben McCulloch, whom he had fought with at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. [...]
Eric | November 7, 2011
November 7, 1861 (Thursday) The crews of the Union fleet off Port Royal, South Carolina, prepared their ships for battle. The weather that had prevented the attack against Forts Beauregard and Walker the previous day had lifted and the sun shown brilliantly over the calm water as the fleet formed for attack. They planned to [...]
Eric | November 6, 2011
November 6, 1861 (Wednesday) According to General Ulysses S. Grant, the previous day, he had received a dispatch from headquarters in St. Louis that Rebels under General Leonidas Polk near Columbus, Kentucky were sending reinforcements to the Missouri State Guard in the southwestern part of Missouri. Grant was ordered to immediately make a demonstration against [...]
Eric | November 5, 2011
November 5, 1861 (Tuesday) As the sun lit up the Atlantic sky over Port Royal, South Carolina, the masts of the Union Naval fleet under Flag Officer Du Pont appeared like a forest growing out of the sea. Two Rebel forts, Beauregard and Walker, guarded the inlet. The Union wanted a port on the Southern [...]
Eric | November 4, 2011
November 4, 1861 (Monday) General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson rose in his stirrups, raised his arms and addressed the men of the First Brigade, the Stonewall Brigade. Having saved the day at Manassas, their General, rising in popularity, rank and responsibility, was leaving them. Jackson had been given command of the Shenandoah Valley. The promotion, however, [...]
Eric | November 1, 2011
November 1, 1861 (Friday) For President Lincoln and his Cabinet, the day began at 9am. They met to discuss and debate General-in-Chief Winfield Scott’s request to be placed on the retired list. The Cabinet was unanimous that it should be accepted and General George B. McClellan should be given the position. Lincoln, however, was not [...]
Eric | October 31, 2011
October 31, 1861 (Thursday, Halloween) “For more than three years I have been unable, from a hurt, to mount a horse or walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. Other and new infirmities, dropsy and vertigo, admonish me that a repose of mind and body, with the appliances [...]
Eric | October 29, 2011
October 29, 1861 (Tuesday) Throughout the summer and early autumn of 1861, it became clear that a full, successful blockade of South Atlantic ports was nearly impossible. The blockade of Charleston, specifically, involved a refueling issue. The ships had to return to a northern port for more coal. Seizing a Southern port and turning it [...]
Eric | October 5, 2011
Saturday, October 5, 1861 When last we left the armies of Lee and Rosecrans, drying out on opposing spurs of Big Sewell Mountain in Western Virginia, each side was well entrenched and practically daring the other to attack. In the several days since, little to no movement was made by either. The rains had stopped [...]
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