In April 1858, John Augustine Washington, George Washington’s great grandnephew, executed a contract to sell Mount Vernon to Miss. Ann Pamela Cunningham, Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. As David Ribblett explains in his article, “Saviors of Mount Vernon,” Ann Cunningham’s mother had sailed past the deteriorating estate in 1853 and then asked her…
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost For want of a shoe a horse was lost” This well-known proverb, which continues for several more lines, and ends with the loss of a kingdom, reportedly dates back several centuries, and an internet search as to how the proverb has been used over the years,…
In my last post I examined Lt. Col. William LeDuc’s efforts to keep the XI Corps supplied with food, forage and ammunition in mid-December 1862. With his teamsters struggling valiantly to keep their wagons and animals moving along the mud-choked roads through Fairfax and Prince William Counties, LeDuc sought an alternative avenue by which to…
The movie Glory includes a scene in which Col. Robert Gould Shaw confronts a group of condescending, well-fed quartermasters sitting in a warm warehouse, overflowing with supplies, in an attempt to procure shoes for his men. While I cannot speak to the accuracy of this particular image as regards Colonel Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts,…
Built in 1770, Lamb’s Creek Episcopal Church, served as a headquarters for several regiments during the winter of 1862-63, including the 1st Maine, 2nd and 10th New York, the 1st New Jersey and 1st Pennsylvania. Lamb’s Creek Church, King George County The 2nd New York relieved the 1st Pennsylvania on December 28, 1862. The following…
On January 15, 1863, Lt. Col. Rufus Ingalls, Quartermaster General, Army of the Potomac, replied to an earlier letter from his superior, Brig. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, in which Meigs had asked about “securing the supplies that may be in the Peninsula between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers.” “The matter has frequently engaged my attention,” Ingalls…
While back home recently, I took in a Tigers’ game with my brother. We could not have asked for better Michigan weather, and went downtown early to walk around and enjoy a few Lafayette Coney Island hot dogs before the game. The downtown area of the city is truly experiencing a re-birth. Office buildings, many…
