TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Military History

  • Short Takes

    I came across this representation of a target shot a 500 yards by a .577 Enfield and a .451 Whitworth, which shows pretty clearly why the Whitworth made a better sharpshooter’s rifle. Source: W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development (1910) Google Books now has Life magazine in their collection, and among the issues is […]

  • Short Takes

    A beautifully engraved LeMat repro is up for charity auction at Gunbroker. This is #158 of 500 of the Museum of the Confederacy Tribute to the Confederate cause and those who fought valiantly for that cause. The revolver is an F.LLI Pietta historical reproduction of the famous confederate LeMat revolver. The LeMat revolver was a […]

  • Last Shots of the War

    One of our local columnists, Rob Neufeld, pens a short item on the last shots of the war, which were supposedly fired right here in Western NC. What caught my eye is that they were fired by sharpshooters under the command of Lt. Robert Conley of Company F, Thomas Legion on May 6, 1865. On […]

  • Announcing Beyond the Crater: A New Petersburg Campaign Web Site

    Ever since Harry Smeltzer started his Bull Runnings blog/site focusing on the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), I’ve wanted to do something similar for the Petersburg Campaign.  I’m happy to say I’ve finally started on that project.  The new web site is called Beyond the Crater: The Civil War Petersburg Campaign Online.  The site […]

  • The Becker Collection

    Another most amazing Civil War resource has recently become available at Boston College—The Becker Archive, an extensive collection of the original drawings of the special artists working for Frank Leslie’s Weekly. There’s a long article about in Boston College magazine. It is … an extraordinary cache of previously undocumented eyewitness depictions from the second half […]

  • Review: The Maps of First Bull Run by Bradley Gottfried

    Gottfried, Bradley M. The Maps of First Bull Run: An Atlas of the First Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign, including the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, June-October 1861. Savas Beatie LLC (June 10, 2009). 144 pages, 51 maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-1932714609 $34.95 (Hardcover). What do you get when a publisher long known for its […]

  • Review: The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth

    Hess, Earl J. The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth. University Press of Kansas (September 9, 2008). 288 pages, tables, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-0700616077 $29.95 (Hardcover). Did the widespread use of the rifle musket for the first time in the American Civil War lead to increased average combat ranges, increasingly destructive […]