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Siege of Petersburg Project Update

I’ve now updated the Confederate OOB of my Petersburg Campaign Project through the month of November 1864 (after the Sixth Offensive of October), and I’ve completed all units found in Sifakis’ Compendium of the Confederate Armies. The OOBs I’m starting with are from F. Ray Sibley, Jr.’s reference work The Confederate Order of Battle: The Army of Northern Virginia, Volume 1. This has been getting easier as I get used to Sibley’s way of doing things, and I’m making progress at a far greater clip than I ever thought possible. I hope to start on the December 1864 OOB soon. When I finish with the Confederate side, I plan to move on to the Union OOB, and that process gets tougher. The Confederate OOB was relatively stable as far as the organization of regiments into brigades, brigades into divisions, and divisions into corps. That is not the case on the Union side. Regiments were mustered out after their time was up, many others combined, brigades were shuffled and consolidated, as were divisions, and in the case of the Army of the James, this even reached Corps level! I hope to use the OOBs from the Official Records and then sort out the details and the contradictory information after the base OOB has been created. Anyone who is interested in this subject and who would like to lend me a hand as far as research goes, feel free to shoot me an email.

Check out Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online for the latest on the Siege of Petersburg!

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Brett Schulte

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5 responses to “Siege of Petersburg Project Update”

  1. Fred Ray Avatar
    Fred Ray

    Have you seen the OBs in Blue and Gray mag issues, Winter and Spring 2001? The last issue is actually for the Appomattox campaign, but also works for the last days of Petersburg.

    Reply
  2. Fred Ray Avatar
    Fred Ray

    Presume you have also looked the OB from B&L at
    http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/library/books/battles/vol4/590.cfm

    Reply
  3. Brett Schulte Avatar
    Brett Schulte

    Fred,

    I hadn’t looked at either just yet. When I first started on this project, I was going by the OOBs in the ORs, but then I stumbled onto Sibley’s book by accident. My plan is to use Sibley’s OOBs as a “base”, and then go back and correct mistakes using other sources after I have Sibley’s OOBs in Excel format through the end of the Siege. While I knew of the B&L OOB, I hadn’t used it yet. And while I have most of the B&G back issues, most were picked up in one incredibly lucky eBay haul. I haven’t had time to go back and look through all of the back issues. I’ve marked these sources down, and I’m always looking for more. If you or anyone else has them, feel free to pass them on. I want to leave no stone unturned with this.

    Brett S.

    Reply
  4. Fred Ray Avatar
    Fred Ray

    If you like I could make a copy of the OBs and send it to you.

    One other niggling thing. You have the Thomas Legion listed, this should, I think, be listed as Infantry Regiment, Thomas Legion. The legion HQ and the Indian battalion remained in the mountains.

    Reply
  5. Brett Schulte Avatar
    Brett Schulte

    Fred,

    I do have the sources you mentioned. It’s just that I’m not ready to use them yet, not until I finish with Sibley’s book. That’s still going to take a few weeks at the very least.

    I’ll make a note of the Thomas Legion, and correct it when I get a chance.

    Brett S.

    Reply

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