I find my trips to the National Archives, especially when I follow my curiosity, almost always rewarded with something new or unexpected. Such was the case on my last visit to the Archives before the pandemic forced the facility to shut down. Having pulled a box of Quartermaster records regarding an unrelated subject, I found…

I offer the following without any intent to enter the present debates or political acrimony connected with the subject. Nor do I offer or solicit any opinions on the question. Rather, the topic of the first order cited below simply piqued my interest – how could it not – and I sought to look a…

My first book, The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, has long been out of print, and secondary market prices now put copies beyond the reach of many prospective buyers. Shortly before we moved back to Virginia, I decided to re-write the book, in part to bring the story back at an affordable price.…

I am happy to welcome Arnold Blumberg to Small but Important Riots. Arnold is an attorney residing in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “When Washington Burned: A Pictorial History of the War of 1812 (Casemate Publications, 2012), as well as numerous articles covering a wide range of military history topics including American Civil…

Years after the war, Judson Kilpatrick addressed a reunion of veterans of the 1st Maine Cavalry. Describing his brigade’s fight at Fleetwood Hill, June 9, 1863, the former general explained how the Tenth New York “had gone in and then come out.” He had watched with dismay, he told the aging soldiers, as his own…

As Bob Moran’s fine post last month sparked such interest in the 4th New York and the turmoil within the officer corps of the regiment during the spring of 1863, I thought I would expand upon his account. Bob built his story around a letter from Maj. Anton von Puechelstein (February 17, 1863) to Maj.…

I am pleased to welcome Bob Moran to Small but Important Riots. Bob served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, and is now retired from the Boeing Company. He lives with his wife of 49 years in Fairfax County, Virginia, and serves as a docent at Historic Blenheim in Fairfax City. There, he also helps…

As a follow on to my previous posts regarding leadership in the Cavalry Corps, I am going to focus this month on one officer who appeared repeatedly in early drafts of my new Small but Important Riots manuscript. Unfortunately, he always appeared on the periphery of the story, and wound up being excised from most…

On February 21, three days after Major Chamberlain arrested Lieutenant Cranville, 16th Pennsylvania, and just one day after General Hooker dismissed the young officer, Capt. Richard Lord, 1st U.S. Cavalry, inspected the picket line near Hartwood Church. Approaching one of the outposts, Lord encountered four men from the 16th Pennsylvania. “I approached with my party…

Guiding his horse through the deep snow in the nearly impenetrable forest along the Rappahannock River, Maj. Samuel Chamberlain may have reflected on the events of his youth. He had enlisted and seen the elephant during the war with Mexico. Rather than a spit and polish soldier, however, Chamberlain had been a bit of a…