TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: 150 Years Ago in the Civil War

  • 150 Years Ago, March 1863

    150 Years Ago March 1863 For armies that move by the muscles of men, horses or mules, weather is everything.  The standard six horse/mule army wagons carry 1,100 to 1,700 pounds.   Large loads on good dry roads, less off road or in bad weather.  An army’s location determines much of its’ activities.  Hooker and Lee, […]

  • 150 Years Ago, February 1863

    150 Years Ago February 1863 Winter holds the Virginia armies hostage.  The “Mud March” is both an example and warning to commanders about conducting operations.  The infantry and artillery stay snug in their winter camps.  The men live in log huts using tents for a roof.  Cracker boxes become chimneys, cabinets and furniture making the […]

  • 150 Years Ago, January 1863

    150 Years Ago January 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation is now law.  All slaves in the Confederate States of America are free.  Slaves in CSA areas occupied by Federal forces are free too.  However, slaves in Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri are still slaves.  Slavery is still legal in the United States and will remain legal until […]

  • Best Books on the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg: December 13, 1862

    Best Books on the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg: December 13, 1862 While I typically create “best Civil War books on…” posts for the 150th anniversary of major (and sometimes not so major) battles, I usually come up with brand new things to say about them.  In this case I’ll mostly be letting my prior […]

  • Two Good Books on Prairie Grove…And a Wargame

    For those of us with Civil War interests, December 7 also conjures up images of the greatest single march in the entire Civil War, and it didn’t involve Jackson’s foot cavalry.  Instead, it was Herron’s Union forces trying to reach an overexposed Blunt who marched 120 or so miles in frigid December temperatures.  The result […]

  • Reading the War, December 1862

    Reading the War December 1862 We do not have many books from Antietam to Gettysburg.  I have no idea why but it is a fact we have to accept.  Compounding the problem is that several books are out of date or just plain bad.  My recommendations are: The Fredericksburg Campaign by Francis Augustin O’Reilly is […]

  • 150 years ago, December 1862

    150 Years Ago December 1862 The bright promise of summer has turned into bitter disappointment.  In May, the Army of the Potomac was closing on Richmond, now it is on the Rappahannock facing the Army of Northern Virginia on the hills behind Fredericksburg.  Nashville, once a securely occupied city is now the front lines.  Bragg […]