TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Civil War Research

  • Will the Real Winner of Iuka Come On Down!

    Brett’s post last month on the new book by Frank Varney inspired me to write this post. In my view, the standard conclusion about the Battle of Iuka is wrong, but not in the way Varney would like. I agree that the winner of the battle has been unjustly overlooked, but its not Rosecrans that […]

  • The Ewell Contribution

    A few days ago I wrote about the ‘Ewell Option ‘ — a plan for General Richard Ewell to strike at US forces in northern Virginia in April or May 1862 — and how instead Ewell decided to stick with Stonewall Jackson and support his efforts in the Shenandoah Valley. The resulting campaign became famous and […]

  • The Ewell Option

    We have a tendency to view history as if through a rear view mirror, looking back along the path taken and framing what happened by how it turned out.  Since we know that in May and June of 1862 General Thomas Stonewall Jackson led a famous campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, the events leading up […]

  • Did the Moon Do In Stonewall Jackson?

    Or is this just another loony theory? Two astronomers from Texas State University think that the angle of the moon had a lot to do with Stonewall’s fatal wounding at Chancellorsville. If Jackson’s reconnaissance party was riding in bright moonlight, then his own men should have recognized them as they returned from the Union’s side, […]

  • Reader Challenge: Prove Rosecrans was Panicked at Chickamauga

    As I slowly work my way to the end of General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War, I continue to find interesting questions raised.  My goal today is to explore one of those questions, with your help. The Question: First, […]

  • The Minutemen of ’61

    Last month I wrote a bit about the Massachusetts Militia before the war.  That led me to think about the response of Massachusetts at the start of the war 152 years ago this week. Years later chroniclers of the Massachusetts militia boasted of their impact:  “To the fact that Massachusetts for years had maintained a […]

  • Why Bobby Lee Had More Men (and Lost More Men) Than Anyone Knew in 1864

    The Overland Campaign: War of Attrition? The standard story of the Overland Campaign is this: Grant had at least a 2:1 advantage over Lee in the Overland Campaign (and Early maintains a 3:1 advantage!) Grant could gain ample new recruits, Lee had no manpower reserves to draw on Grant doggedly used these advantages to grind […]