Written By: Emily George “The beginnings of great periods have often been marked and made memorable by striking events. Out of the cloud that hangs around the vague inceptions of revolutions, a startling incident will sometimes flash like lightning, to show that the warring elements have begun their work.” Published in July 1861, this excerpt …
Written By: CSM (Ret) James H. Clifford The streets of Baltimore were abuzz on 17 September 1863 with word that a new Union regiment was marching from Camp Belcher on the western outskirts of town to the harbor. After two years of war, the sight of soldiers in the city should not have caused great …
Written By Donald McConnell and Gustav Person When the Civil War erupted in April 1861, the twelve batteries of the 4th U.S. Artillery were spread out across the continental United States. The regimental headquarters was simply an administrative body, without any tactical responsibilities. With the exception of two batteries (D and L) stationed at the …
Written By: John Grady Early in the Civil War, hard-pressed Confederate Army officers in the West, like Major General Leonidas K. Polk, knew they were particularly exposed to the Union Army and Navy. Less than a day’s cavalry ride from Polk’s headquarters at Columbus, Kentucky, the Union was building a fleet of attack gunboats up …
Written By: Eileen Mattei Two forts separated by only three miles remained worlds apart in the roles they played over a 195-year span. From their authorization as Third System coastal defense forts in 1819 to their actions in the important joint Army-Navy Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864 during the Civil War, and their current …
A Tale of Two Forts on Mobile Bay: Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan Read More »
Written By: Major Adam Morgan, COARNG Original publication date: Spring 2013 All was not quiet on the western front. While the nation braced for civil war, frontiersmen brought their political leanings for the Confederacy or the Union to the western United States. As political bands began to form in the West, the federal government in …
Winning the “War of Western Possession”: The Battle of Glorieta Pass Read More »
Written By: Donald McConnell & Gustav Person In March 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had been promoted and brought east to command all the Union armies and, ultimately, to win the Civil War. His main opponents were General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. What became known as the Overland …
By Ephriam D. Dickson III Deputy Chief, Field Museums Branch, U.S. Army Center of Military History In the wee hours of the morning of April 1, 1864, a steamer known as the Maple Leaf was quietly moving up the St. Johns River in northern Florida, about twelve miles south of Jacksonville. Built in 1850, this …
In its 140-plus year history, thousands of soldiers have proudly worn the insignia of the 4th Engineers and staunchly upheld the battalion’s motto, Volens et Potens (Willing and Able). The origins of the 4th Engineer Battalion date back to 31 December 1861 when the Army organized several new and existing engineer companies into a provisional engineer battalion …
I became interested in the 29th New York Infantry Regiment about two years ago when in the process of tracing my family roots, I “found” a second cousin, once removed, in the small town of Koerbecke, Germany, not far from where I was born. From her, I learned that my great-granduncle, Antonius Rokus, had …
