TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

  • Civil War Book Preview: The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 by John Horn

    Shipping from the printer this week is the second edition of John Horn’s H. E. Howard book on the Battle of Globe Tavern and Grant’s Fourth Offensive during the Siege of Petersburg.  The second edition is entitled The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864, and contains, according to the author “expanded […]

  • Confederate Reinforcements & the Second Manassas Campaign

    I have been reading about the Antietam campaign and a question occured to me.  It is generally acknowledged that before entering Maryland, Gen. Lee was reinforced by a column of roughly 25,000 troops consisting of the infantry divisions of DH Hill, McLaws and Walker; a cavalry brigade under Hampton; and the reserve artillery under Pendleton. […]

  • US casualties at 1st Winchester: Will it ever be accurately reported?

    The first battle of Winchester, Virginia was fought on May 25, 1862 between forces under Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall‘ Jackson and those under Union General Nathaniel Banks. For US casualties in the battle, almost all books and websites I have seen report the same thing: 62 killed; 243 wounded; 1,714 missing/captured; for a total of 2,019.  See this […]

  • Quiner Scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society Online

    In my recent web wanderings searching for Siege of Petersburg material, I came across a fantastic resource on Wisconsin Civil War military units at the Wisconsin Historical Society web site.  The ten volume “Quiner Scarpbooks” contain letters from Wisconsin soldiers which were printed in newspapers during the war.  The Wisconsin Historical Society allows you to […]

  • Leadership Lessons from the Siege of Petersburg: Richard J. Sommers

    Dr. Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed, recently reprinted in a Second Edition by Savas Beatie, recently gave a talk about leadership at the Siege of Petersburg which aired on CSPAN.  Luckily for us, as Dr. Sommers writes in an email, it’s now available online: C-SPAN filmed a presentation on “Richmond Redeemed: Enduring Lessons […]

  • Springfield Breech Loading Conversions

    An interesting item is currently up for auction on Gunbroker – a Springfield rifle musket converted to a breech loader with a rolling block action. For those not familiar with the action, the Remington Rolling Block rifle was one of the best – I think the best – of the late 19thC crop of breech […]

  • Civil War Book Preview: The Battle of Petersburg, June 15–18, 1864 by Sean Chick

    First New Book on the Second Battle of Petersburg in 25 Years Sean Chick’s new book on the Second Battle of Petersburg will be published by Potomac Books in 2015.  I wanted to bring this one to readers’ attention with a sneak peek at the cover as well as some information on the book.  Look […]

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