This weekly series looks at the posts which have appeared over the last 7 days at The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater. It’s a way to show TOCWOC readers what I’ve been doing over at my other Civil War site. This week was a bit lighter in terms of posting.
The regiments of Benning’s Georgia brigade of Field’s Division, First Corps, ANV now all have permanent homes here. These pages serve as a way to show commanders, strengths, weapons, how the unit fits into the Orders of Battle (OOBs) of all nine of Grant’s Offensives against Petersburg, as well as linking to any other page on the site in which the unit plays a prominent part. Examples include diary and letter entries written by men from a certain unit, regimental histories of the unit, reports from the Official Records where the unit is mentioned, original articles on the unit, and so on.
On August 25, 147 years to the day later, I posted a paper from the Military Historical Society of Masschusetts by Francis A. Walker, acting Adjutant-General of Hancock’s Second Corps, covering the Second Battle of Reams’ Station. The battle came about due to the desire of General Lee to protect as much of the Weldon Railroad as possible. Hancock’s Second Corps had been tabbed to tear up this supply line starting several miles south of Globe Tavern…and Warren’s Fifth Corps flank. The Union troops were positioned in some faulty breastworks and many veteran regiments had been filled with conscripts and draftees. The result was a disaster the likes of which the Second Corps had never suffered and never would again. Hancock preferred to be shot and killed on the field rather than live and be disgraced by the result. Walker’s account provides a glimpse into the shame felt by long time veterans of the Second Corps, one of the best in the Northern army.
I also launched a new store at Beyond the Crater as a way to pass on Union Ordnance Returns and Confederate Inspection Reports to those interested at low cost while simultaneously making a little bit of money for use in purchasing more rolls from the National Archives. Any purchases there will serve to further The Siege of Petersburg Online and I appreciate the help I’ve received so far.
All other posts belong to the regular categories of Official Records reports and Octave Bruso’s diary entries for the week. Entries may be light for awhile since I am doing background work and research prior to publishing permanent homes for the regiments in Major General John Gibbon’s Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. In addition to these pages, the regiments will also be inserted into their proper places in the orders of battle for the First and Second offensives. Look for these to begin appearing soon.
- Octave Bruso Diary: Week of August 28, 1864
- Number 348. Petersburg Campaign Report of Captain George B. Easterly, Fourth Wisconsin Battery, of operations August 1-September 30
- Number 347. Petersburg Campaign Report of Lieutenant Robert M. Hall, Battery B, First U. S. Artillery, of operations October 7
- Trading Cards at Petersburg National Battlefield
- Number 346. Petersburg Campaign Report of Colonel Edwin V. Sumner, First New York Mounted Rifles, of operations October 7
- A USCT Lt on the 1864 Democratic Convention in Chicago
- 20th Georgia Infantry
- 20th GA: Benning’s Brigade: A History and Roster of the Second, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiments
- MHSM Papers: Reams’ Station by Brevet Brigadier-General Francis A. Walker
- Number 345. Petersburg Campaign Report of Colonel W. Evans, First Maryland Cavalry, commanding Third Brigade, of operations December 10
- 17th Georgia Infantry
- 17th GA: Benning’s Brigade: A History and Roster of the Second, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiments
- Number 344. Petersburg Campaign Report of Major Franklin A. Stratton, Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, of operations September 16-17
- 15th Georgia Infantry
- 15th GA: The Granite Farm Letters: The Civil War Correspondence of Edgeworth & Sallie Bird
- 15th GA: Benning’s Brigade: A History and Roster of the Fifteenth Georgia
- 1st D.C. Cavalry Skirmish with Confederate Raiding Party, August 9, 1864 (Official Records)
- Number 343. Petersburg Campaign Reports of Major J. Stannard Baker, First District of Columbia Cavalry, of operations August 9 and September 3
- 2nd Georgia Infantry
- Introducing the New Beyond the Crater Store
- 2nd GA: Benning’s Brigade: A History and Roster of the Second, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiments
- Number 342. Petersburg Campaign Report of Lieutenant Colonel Franklin A. Stratton, Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanding Second Brigade, of operations December 10
If you have any questions or comments about the site, please feel free to leave a comment here or Contact me at Beyond the Crater.
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