TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Civil War Research

  • Black Confederates at the Siege of Petersburg?

    A regimental history of the 36th Wisconsin by James M. Aubery, published in 1900, contains his observation of so-called “Black Confederates”, and whether or not they were soldiers.  I think Aubery’s statement1 speaks for itself on the matter, emphasis mine. The following from General Longstreet regarding Hatcher’s Run explains itself and shows that the slaves […]

  • Alabama Historical Quarterly Online

    While looking through the notes at the end of A Melancholy Affair at the Weldon Railroad: The Vermont Brigade, June 23, 1864 this weekend, I found what appears to be the entire run of Alabama Historical Quarterly online.  I was specifically interested in Colonel Hilary A. Herbert’s “History of the Eighth Alabama Volunteer Regiment, C.S.A.“, […]

  • GIS at Civil War Battles

    The New York Times has an interesting article on the use of GIS (Geographical Information Service) in analyzing history, including Civil War battles like Gettysburg. Personally I have always felt that the 2-D maps we see in books are inadequate for conveying the flow of the battle. Things that look obvious on a flat surface […]

  • Tufts University Has Digitized the Southern Historical Society Papers

    In an article which mentioned airplanes over the trenches at Petersburg, I also found some exciting news about the Southern Historical Society Papers.  I did not realize they had been placed online at Tufts University’s Perseus Digital Library.  Here’s a link to Volume 1.  If all else fails, just do a search for “southern historical […]

  • Need Help From TOCWOC Readers: Mounted Pioneer Corps?

    This request for help from those more knowledgeable on the subject of engineer/pioneer units comes about as a result of reading Myron M. Miller’s The Soul of a Soldier: The True Story of a Mounted Pioneer in the Civil War. The book is a collection of letters as well as a biographical sketch of Miller’s […]

  • A Sharpshooter Story

    I’ve been researching sharpshooters for several years now, so it’s always nice to find something new like this from the history of the 115th New York. It’s interesting for a couple of reasons. One is the story of the conversion of the 13th Indiana into a sharpshooter battalion in all but name. This is almost […]

  • A New Look at Fort Pillow

    Few battles in the Late Unpleasantness have aroused such passions as Fort Pillow. Battle or massacre? Truth or propaganda? Steve Cole is looking at the men who actually fought the battle and their fates. The Battle of Fort Pillow was part of General Forrest’s raid into western Tennessee in 1864.  Fort Pillow was the first […]