TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Tag: Eugene Blackford

  • Eugene Blackford letter excerpt January 14, 1861

    In this letter home to his father, Blackford seems to understand better than the politicians what is coming. Although opposing secession, he also opposes coercion by the Federal government. Ere this I suppose you have received the intelligence that Alabama has seceded, and that I am for the first time in my life without the […]

  • Eugene Blackford letter excerpt January 5, 1861

    I will be periodically posting excerpts from Eugene Blackford’s letters in the next few months, all of which are included in Volume I of my upcoming book (which may still be ordered at a prepublication discount). This letter finds Blackford, a Virginian, in the small town of Clayton, Alabama (near Eufaula) working as a school […]

  • Sharpshooter: The Selected Letters and Papers of Maj. Eugene Blackford C.S.A.

    Sharpshooter: The Selected Letters and Papers of Maj. Eugene Blackford, C.S.A. Fred L. Ray, Ed. ISBN-13 978-0-9882435-1-4 / ISBN-10 0988243512 6×9 inch hardback / 230 Pages 10 Maps 30 Illustrations Footnoted / Indexed / Complete Bibliography Publication date: March 2016 Price after publication $39.95 I am nearly finished with the first phase of the biggest […]

  • Sharpshooters on Jackson’s Flank March

    Good article on the Civil War Trust web site on Stonewall Jackson’s flank march at Chancellorsville by Robert K. Krick. Using new information Krick gives full credit to the vital role of Maj. Eugene Blackford’s Alabama sharpshooter battalion, and in general how Jackson and Robert Rodes used these new units. While Fitz Lee and his […]

  • Crowdsourcing a Phrase

    I’ve been transcribing a number of letters from Maj. Eugene Blackford CSA (which is why I haven’t posted much). He has excellent penmanship but occasionally I run into parts of his letters I have trouble with. One of those cases is presented below, which may involve a foreign phrase. Blackford often salts his letters with […]

  • Rifles and Sharpshooters

    I wanted to follow up on something Brett mentioned in his last post on my book – that armies often times spur innovations by their opponents. One example I mention early on is the formation of rifle units in the British Army, which did so in large part because of its experiences in America. Now […]