Now in my 70s, I am more and more intrigued with questions of memory. Often, when I get together with friends and former co-workers, we recall and rehash, as the old soldiers did in the decades after the Civil War, events from our past. Some of those events occurred nearly 50 years ago and you…
In early-April 1863, with the spring campaign season approaching, President Lincoln, along with his wife, Mary, his son, Tad, and assorted friends, sailed down the Potomac River to the army’s massive supply depot at Aquia Creek. From there they traveled by train to Falmouth, before boarding ambulances for the final leg of the journey to…
The 14th New York State Militia in the Civil War Vol. I: “Baptized by Fire” – From Bull Run to Bull Run, April 1861-August 1862 By James L. McLean Jr. I am proud to mention the release, in a limited edition, of Jim McLean’s latest work, Volume I of his projected 3 volume study of…
In my June post regarding Gen. James Wilson and his postwar recollections, I briefly referred to the dismounted cavalrymen attached to the Army of the Potomac at the outset of the Overland Campaign. My specific focus in June had been the degree to which Spencer Carbines had been issued to the men, and I saved…
I hope the title pegged your curiosity meter. I first watched the John Wayne classic movie El Dorado when I was twelve and may have watched it seventy-five times since then. Given the opportunity, I will watch El Dorado back-to-back in the same afternoon. In addition to Wayne, the movie stars include Robert Mitchum, James…
As I suspect most of you know, I do not feature much in the way of infantry content here. I have nothing against the infantry, but I am a student of the cavalry. Still, from time to time, an infantry study or a battle study comes along that is simply too good to ignore. Such…
As I completed the manuscript for Chasing Jeb Stuart and John Mosby in 2011, I realized (on good advice) that the narrative was too long and too broad in scope. I decided to shorten the time frame of the book and to narrow my focus to the cavalry. In doing so, I cut out seven…
During the last few years, I have made several references to the logistical problems in the Union Cavalry Corps, created by the different models and caliber of carbines carried by the men. I have also, especially recently, referenced what I term ‘the mythical horn of plenty’ within the Cavalry Corps. In doing so, I do…
“It was under my administration, [as head of the Cavalry Bureau] …that the Spencer magazine carbine was adopted as the standard [carbine] for the cavalry service, and the division which I commanded in Sheridan’s cavalry was the first in the world completely supplied with that or any similar arm.” So wrote Maj. Gen. James H.…
Robert E. Lee’s Reluctant Warrior: The Life of Cavalry Commander and Railroad Businessman Brigadier General Williams Carter Wickham. By Sheridan R. Barringer. ISBN 978-1-945602-25-2. Columbia, SC: Fox Run Publishing, 2024. Maps. Images. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 255. $32.95 (hardback). By the late afternoon of September 22, 1864, the Confederate Valley Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Jubal…
As I worked on last month’s Part 2, I considered just how far I could expand this story, or, put another way, how much more readers would tolerate. In this concluding post, I want to take a brief look at how the South handled the same supply problems that winter, as well as how they…
Several months ago, while pondering ideas for future posts, I re-read three reports in my files, all dated March 1, 1863, and all three describing, in some detail, the Union cavalry picket line around the Army of the Potomac. I have other reports from the same general time frame, but finding three written by different…
Several years ago, I examined several of the challenges confronting Brig. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, Col. Rufus Ingalls, and their subordinates in the Quartermaster Department, as they struggled to keep the men and animals of the Army of the Potomac supplied during the winter of 1862-1863. You can find those posts here and here. I want…
I truly appreciate the feedback I receive from you, and I especially appreciate hearing from readers familiar with a home I have written about or who are descendants of a soldier I have written of. I believe Maj. John Eells, 5th Virginia Cavalry, may have been the last trooper, North or South, killed in action…
For more than 161 years, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s ‘Ride to Gettysburg’ has proved fertile ground for debate and controversy, and for more than 30 years I have tried to avoid such discussions. Confusing orders, missing orders, problematic decisions, and Stuart’s motivations are just a few of the unknowable or unsolvable factors that fuel the…
Small But Important Riots 