One of the themes I plan to examine from time to time is the inter-action between the Union cavalry and Southern civilians. This relationship was, understandably, fractious at best and frequently fraught with danger, for soldier and civilian alike. All too often the soldiers and non-combatants were verbally and physically abusive toward each other. Confrontations…
The officer was a bit of an anomaly; a Union colonel with a Deep South accent, wearing a Mexican serape against the pre-dawn chill. Shortly after stepping into the saddle he spurred his horse into the Rappahannock River. The placid waters were soon churning, as hundreds of troopers in Union blue followed in his wake. …
As I prepared my last post describing Union attempts to burn the Waterloo Bridge, I was also reading Seizing Destiny, The Army of the Potomac’s “Valley Forge” and the Civil War Winter that Saved the Union, by Albert Conner Jr., and Chris Mackowski. One of the first offensive operations described by the authors is the…
Small But Important Riots 