civil war

The Jayhawker and the Conductor: The Combahee Ferry Raid, 2 June 1863

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 …

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4th Engineer Battalion

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 …

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Major General Henry Wager Halleck

Henry Halleck was born in Westernville, New York, on 16 January 1815. He was educated at Hudson Academy, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Union College. He then graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1839 and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. Halleck delivered a series of lectures which were eventually published under the title …

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Major General George Brinton McClellan

George McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3 December 1826. He attended college preparatory schools, and briefly attended the University of Pennsylvania before he accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy. In the Mexican War he served as an engineer for Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. After the war, he taught at West Point until 1851. McClellan …

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