Learn about a Union wool coat in the Museum’s collection and how studying the story of the individual Soldier, not just generals and politicians, and great battles, is important in Army and U.S. History.
General Granger’s reading of General Orders No.3 in Galveston, Texas on 19 June 1865 symbolized what was gained after five long years of war.
By James Stejskal NOTE: This article contains excerpts from contemporary official Union and Confederate reports that include racial epithets. Additional eyewitness accounts employ local “dialect” that may or may not have been accurately rendered by the recorder. It was dark as three Union Army steamboats left St. Helena Sound off the coast of South Carolina …
The Jayhawker and the Conductor: The Combahee Ferry Raid, 2 June 1863 Read More »
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 …
The Army Historical Foundation is the designated official fundraising organization for the National Museum of the United States Army. We were established in 1983 as a member-based, charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We seek to educate future Americans to fully appreciate the sacrifices that generations of American Soldiers have made to safeguard the freedoms of this Nation. Our funding helps to acquire and conserve Army historical art and artifacts, support Army history educational programs, research, and publication of historical materials on the American Soldier, and provide support and counsel to private and governmental organizations committed to the same goals.
