On Point

summer 2024

On the Cover

Mead Schaeffer’s 1943 poster, created for the Ordnance Department features an 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7. (Library of Congress)

For more information, check out an article 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 by James Lankford in this issue of On Point.

Inside this issue

Mail Call

Reader comments on the M102 105mm Howitzer and General Bruce Clarke articles that appeared in the Spring 2024 issue, as well as thoughts on digital On Point.

Irvin McDowell: Forgotten No More

Irvin McDowell, often overlooked by Civil War historians, was a true, loyal, and dutiful soldier who was not always placed in positions that utilized his many talents as a military bureaucrat and planner. He lacked the skills of a battlefield commander, and he made critical errors at key moments.

ARMY HISTORY

“Go do some mischief!” The Grierson Raid and the Development of Cavalry Tactics in the Union Army

On 13 April 1863, while on a short leave in Illinois, Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson was handed a telegram from Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut, commander of the Union garrison in Memphis, Tennessee.

SOLDIER

Brigadier General Russell W. Volckmann

“We Remained” were the words proudly declared by then-Major Russell Volckmann’s command. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941, Volckmann and his men fought back, and when Bataan fell, Volckmann and a handful of others refused to surrender and escaped the Bataan Death March.

UNIT

63d Infantry Division

While the 63d’s time in combat in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) was relatively brief—119 days—the 63d Division played an important part in bolstering the U.S. Seventh Army in its final push into Nazi Germany and the eventual Allied victory in May 1945.

Post

Fort Wool, Virginia

Fort Wool has played an important role in America’s history, yet even the fort’s current existence has faded from America’s memory.

Tools of War

The 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7

At the outbreak of World War II, the U.S. Army was ill-prepared for the mechanized, maneuver warfare employed by the German Wehrmacht. The M7 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage was a weapon system specifically developed by the Army for this new type of mobile warfare.

Army Almanac

Army Almanac - Summer 2024

Take a journey through summers of yore with this issue’s Army Almanac, featuring thirty-plus important dates in Army history.

FROM THE ARMY ART COLLECTION

Artwork of Gene Snyder

Carl E. “Gene” Snyder created works in a variety of media, including several pieces focusing on Army peacekeeping and humanitarian missions overseas.

Stray Rounds

This summer’s Stray Rounds includes brief articles about the Behind the Stars project, a POW/MIA burial, the endangered battlefields, and more,

Eyewitness

Rangers Storm Pointe du Hoc - Normandy, France, D-Day, 6 June 1944

SPECIAL FEATURE

2023 AHF Distinguished Writing Awards Winners

book reviews

Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant Review

Small but Important Riots: The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville Review

For the Boys: The True Account of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army Review

Flying in the Shadows: Forging Aerial Intelligence for the United States Army Review

The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865: A Study in Command Review

Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 Review

Elite Bastards: The Combat Missions of Company F, LRP Teams in Vietnam Review

The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns Review

From New Look to Flexible Response: The U.S. Army in National Security, 1953-1963 Review

The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 Review

The Battle of Bong Son: Operation Masher/White Wing, 1966 Review

10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale Review

Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant Review

Small but Important Riots: The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville Review

For the Boys: The True Account of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army Review

Flying in the Shadows: Forging Aerial Intelligence for the United States Army Review

The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865: A Study in Command Review

Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 Review

Elite Bastards: The Combat Missions of Company F, LRP Teams in Vietnam Review

The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns Review

From New Look to Flexible Response: The U.S. Army in National Security, 1953-1963 Review

The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Gettysburg Retreat through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 Review

The Battle of Bong Son: Operation Masher/White Wing, 1966 Review

10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale Review

The Army Historical Foundation

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. This is a non-federal entity. It is not part of the department of defense or any of its components, and it has no government status.

HISTORY PROGRAMS

On Point

summer 2024

On the Cover

Inside this issue

The Army Historical Foundation

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