TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Political History

  • Short Takes

    The city of Harrisburg, PA, held a Civil War Grand Review Saturday to honor Black soldiers in the Civil War. The event itself is a re-enactment of a similar review held in the fall of 1865 for Colored regiments that were unable to participate in the Grand Review in Washington. Hari Jones, curator of the […]

  • Short Takes

    The Wisconsin Historical Society looks at election chicanery in 1864 when the Republicans, like the Democrats today, faced a stunning defeat. They did, however, have an ace to play, the military vote. Since they controlled the Legislature, Republicans passed a bill in September that enabled soldiers to vote while serving in the field, and authorized […]

  • 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 […]

  • Tom Dula and Zeb Vance

    Rob Neufeld has posted the third part of the series on the Tom Dula saga, detailing the role of his chief defense council, former NC governor Zebulon Vance. Neufeld begins by stating that Vance himself had run afoul of the Yankee government. On May 13, 1865, Federal General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick had Vance arrested at […]

  • Short Takes

    Bryn at 67th Tigers has posted some trajectories based on calculations of the ballistic coefficient of a Burton Minie ball. More realistic than the ones usually used from Jack Coggins’ book (and Coggins was using them for illustration only). The figures confirm something that Joe Bilby has been saying for some time—that using a “center […]

  • Short Takes

    States Rights—it’s not just for George Wallace any more. Whether it’s correctly called a movement, a backlash or political theater, state declarations of their rights – or in some cases denunciations of federal authority, amounting to the same thing – are on a roll. After 230 years the Army is dropping bayonet training. Lt. Gen. […]

  • Lincoln and Stanton

    Two men could not have been more different than Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton. Lincoln had a broad vision, a humane disposition and a folksy way of expressing himself. He could be flexible, was not terribly good at particulars, and could ignore a personal insult if it advanced his cause. Stanton, OTOH was a master […]