TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Military History

  • Civil War on the Web (and one other)

    John Swansburg takes a marathon Civil War tour from Vicksburg to Gettysburg and wonders if he can become an expert that way. The answer is “no” but it’s still a fun read. Gettysburg on Segways? Over the course of this road trip, my companions and I have found ourselves drawn to certain figures, and we’ve […]

  • Civil War on the Web

    “98.2% of celeb internet quotes are bogus” — Abraham Lincoln Telegraph columnist Christopher Howse checks into yet another plagiarism scandal, then notes how many historical quotes just can’t be verified and are likely false. All the more reason to be suspicious. We are not amused, and they can eat…cake. NOAA and the US Navy are […]

  • A Rifleman’s War, Then and Now.

    The question of just how much rifle practice the average Civil War soldier got has been the subject of much discussion, much of it speculative. I recently came across a Federal order on the subject issued by General Dan Sickles: General Orders No. 7, Headquarters 3d Army Corps, March 9, 1863 The attention of Commanding […]

  • Civil War News from NC

    The subject of Black Confederates is a divisive one that often comes up in surprising ways: Gregory Perry, of Monroe, who learned recently that an ancestor was awarded a pension for Confederate service, says it’s hard to reconcile that fact with what he knows firsthand about being a black man in the South. “I grew […]

  • 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 […]

  • Smith & Wesson Revolvers

    Smith & Wesson is now a giant in the firearms industry, but New England gunmakers Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson didn’t start that way. In fact, their first efforts ended in failure. In 1853 Smith & Wesson patented the “rocket ball,” a conical lead ball with a hollow base filled with power having a primer […]

  • 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 […]