Officers in the Regular Army, especially veterans of the Mexican War, had “a regular’s contempt for ‘fancy volunteers.’” Men like George McClellan denigrated untrained and undisciplined volunteer officers as the dregs of society, kicked out of “county courthouses, & low village bar rooms.” Unyielding in his disdain, McClellan sought to double the number of officers…
The War Department order dismissing captains John Ordner, Henry Pratt, Wilkerson Paige and Layton Baldwin, along with lieutenants William Snyder, Aaron Bliss, Luther Barney, Henry Field, John Hart and Theodore Weed came down while the Cavalry Corps, including the 10th New York, was on the Stoneman Raid; the convicted officers did not learn of their…
Just 12 days after Lieut. Luther Barney filed his case against Col. John Lemmon on February 4, 1863, Lemmon retaliated, charging Capt. John Ordner with signing a fraudulent pay voucher and receiving $86.67 for the use and risk of a horse which Ordner did not own. Lemmon termed “Capt. Ordner’s conduct as an officer [as]…
The passage of time tends to blur lines and erase details. With our passing, most of us slip into relative obscurity. Though family and close friends may retain a grip on our essence, we become little more than a name on a page or a headstone to others. Reaching back more than 155 years to…
I continue, when time allows, to search the many letters written to Austin Blair, Michigan’s wartime governor, which are held in the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. Civilians, rather than soldiers, wrote some of the most intriguing letters in the collection. In many cases, the civilians, usually men with some standing within a community,…
I am pleased to welcome Dan Murphy to Small But Important Riots. I had the pleasure of meeting Dan, along with author and historian Patrick O’Donnell, a couple months ago when I guided them over the Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville Battlefields. Dan is an author, historian and cavalry re-enactor, in addition to his day job. …
Maria Smith probably saw her son, Albion, for the last time in October 1861. Albion G. Smith, just 19 years of age, enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry on October 1, and was mustered into Company F, a few days later. On the evening of June 3, 1863, a gunshot split the night air along…
