TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Generals

  • Morale and Willpower – thoughts on the low point of Jackson’s command in the Shenandoah Valley

    Since  it is the 150th anniversary of the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862, I am going to discuss a particular aspect of the campaign – the condition of Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s command at the end of April.  During the preceding weeks Major General Nathaniel Banks had advanced up the Shenandoah Valley as far […]

  • What If YOU Could Interview Key Players at Gettysburg?

    What questions would YOU ask them?  Publisher Wild River Press wants to know, and they’ll be using those questions in an upcoming book which puts a unique new spin on the often overdone Battle of Gettysburg.  Tom Pero, the founder of Wild River Press, explains: Wild River Press (a small publisher of high-quality fishing and […]

  • Stonewall Jackson Anecdote

    I was reading the Richmond Daily Dispatch the other night looking for something else when I came across this amusing anecdote of Stonewall Jackson at Fredericksburg. It certainly reinforces his reputation for both eccentricity and asceticism. The Daily Dispatch: January 3, 1863. Anecdote of Stonewall. The Richmond correspondent of the Charleston Mercury gives the following […]

  • Civil War Book Review: The Rashness of That Hour by Robert Wynstra

    The Rashness of That Hour: Politics, Gettysburg, and the Downfall of Confederate Brigadier General Alfred Iverson by Robert J. Wynstra 6×9, 360 pages, hardback, $32.95 32 photos, 6 maps ISBN 9781932714883 Savas Beatie, December 2010 The “banners and bugles” regimental history has fallen out of favor lately in favor of a more socially oriented narrative […]

  • Short Takes

    Earlier I did a couple of posts on Tom Dooley and his defense counsel Zeb Vance. Now Dooley has come to the stage here in Burnsville, NC, in a locally-produced musical, Tom Dooley. The Kingston Trio gave this tale national, if not global, visibility, but the story of Tom Dooley is based on historical events […]

  • Ulysses S. Grant’s Papers Online Courtesy of Mississippi State University

    Editor’s Note: This blog entry was originally posted at Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online.  It has been crossposted here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog. (Hat tip to Nick and Harry.) As many of you are probably aware, the Grant Papers moved from the care of John Y. Simon at Southern Illinois […]

  • Consequences of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid

    What were the consequences of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid? In operational terms, not much. Casualties were minimal and the raid accomplished little. The indirect consequences, however, were important. For one, it convinced the Confederates to strengthen Richmond’s defenses and move their POWs away from the capital, thus removing a tempting target for raids. The biggest fallout […]