Category: Civil War Research
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Evaluating Negative Evidence
“There is no evidence” is a phrase that historians love to throw out, but it’s one that ought to be used more cautiously than it is. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Most of what we evaluate is paper evidence, which covers only a small part of what actually […]
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Chasseurs and Pennsylvanians
American Civil War units often copied their European counterparts. The best known were the flashy zouaves, but there were others as well, such as the chasseurs. The name means “hunter” in French, and they were light infantry, the functional equivalent of the German Jägers. Chasseurs came in both infantry (chasseurs à pied) and cavalry (chasseurs […]
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B&G Article on Fort Stedman: Who Probed Fort Friend?
In my last post I looked the attacks on the attacks on Battery IX and Fort McGilvery in the northern sector, where I concluded that Gen. Walker got three brigades into action (Lewis, Kasey and Ransom) but failed to make a coordinated attack on Battery IX and any ground attack at all on Fort McGilvery. […]
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B&G Article on Fort Stedman: the Attacks on Battery IX
After having looked at the initial assault, it’s time to take a look at the northern sector and attacks on Battery IX and Fort McGilvery. Maj. Gen. Orlando Willcox, whose division was attacked, stated that there were three Confederate columns: “One column moved toward the right of Battery No. 10, a second column moved toward […]
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Blue & Gray article on Fort Stedman: Ransom’s brigade
Before taking a look at Fort Friend, I first want to examine the actions of Ransom’s brigade (24th, 25th, 35th, 49th, and 56th NC regiments) at Fort Stedman. Students of the battle, including myself, have had it attacking Battery IX, but after taking another look I have come to the conclusion that Ransom’s and Wallace’s […]
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Clark’s “NC Regiments” on line
After the war many states published extensive histories about the organizations that took part in the conflict. North Carolina’s contribution was a massive five volume 1901 opus edited by a former Confederate colonel, Walter Clark. In spite of its cumbersome title, Histories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina, in the great war […]
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New York Times archives on line
Yup. And free. And they go back to 1851. Even though the NYT of the 19th Century was not the powerhouse it became in the 20th, there is still a trove of information here. The older articles are in PDF format, so you can’t cut and paste, but this is a minor annoyance.