County Map Of Virginia, and North Carolina. 23. Entered ... 1860, by S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr. ... Pennsylvania, Source:David Rumsey Map Collection http://www.davidrumsey.com From class reading several weeks ago, I thought I would share a fascinating quote from T. Harry Williams and his 1952 work Lincoln and His Generals discussing the military preparedness of both sides to wage the war between the states. “All of them were unready for war in 1861, and in that year and even later were... Read Full Story

Confederate Dead, Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia Currently reading… Attack or Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage by Grady McWhitney and Perry D. Jamieson. Incredible statistics describing the carnage resulting from Confederate offensives against fortified positions. Tagged: American Civil War, Attack or Die, Attack or Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage, Civil War Dead, Confederate strategies, CSA, Grady McWhitney, Perry D. Jamieson Read Full Story

I ran across this excellent photo of Grant’s staff pictured below in City Point, Virginia on the Army Heritage Collection Online site. According to the writing on the matting, included are: 1st Lieut. William McKee Dunn, Jr. (seated left), Lt. Col. E. S. Parker (larger man seated to left of door), and Lt. Col. Theodore Shelton Bowers (standing to right of door). That accounts for only three of the eight men pictured although it’s unclear whether all of the men are in the military... Read Full Story

Michael Noirot over at This Mighty Scourge has posted an interesting interview with the Civil War Preservation Trust’s president, Jim Lighthizer. It’s presented in a series of podcasts and is well worth a listen. You can access it here or by clicking on the image below. Tagged: Civil War Preservation Trust, CWPT, History Podcasts, Jim Lighthizer, This Mighty Scourge Read Full Story

Up this week:  Chapters 1 – 6 of Paddy Griffith’s Battle Tactics of the Civil War. Mr. Griffith was a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Published on: 2001-03-01 Publisher: Yale University Press Original language: English Binding: Paperback 240 pages Tagged: Battle Tactics of the Civil War, Paddy Griffith, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, [...] Read Full Story

T. Harry Williams’ essay, “The Military Leadership of North and South” in the book Why the North Won the Civil War is outstanding. His point that the Industrial Revolution had the “immediate consequence of making the Northern generals less inclined to deal out destruction” was an epiphany. So much of what I’ve read until now points [...] Read Full Story

Got my new Kindle 3 DX yesterday in the mail.  Larry has commandeered my smaller Kindle 2. Actually we’ll share. It’s nice to be a two Kindle family. See my other posts on my Kindles here. Oh and any book I downloaded on my Kindle 2 is available to load on the new Kindle as well. Tagged: Amazon Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX Read Full Story

I wrapped up reading Lincoln and His Generals by T. Henry Williams. I found it quite good. I confess to being impressed by the extent to which Lincoln became an able strategist by the mid-point of the war. No doubt contributing to this was Halleck’s liaise-faire attitude. Lacking a strong military leader, lacking much in the way of battle successes, and given Lincoln’s character that from all accounts relished diving in to understand and solve problems, he obviously felt compelled to step in... Read Full Story

In June 6th’s post I mentioned I was reading a review copy of The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded from the Confederacy by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer. This update: their description of the Battle of Corinth is outstanding, albeit gruesome. I will file the book in numerous places on my virtual bookshelves as it covers a great deal of ground: the experience of soldiers, rich versus poor in the military of the Confederacy, unionists in the South, the experience o... Read Full Story

When Grant became General in Chief of northern armies in 1864, he was 42 years old, 5′8″ tall and weighed 135 pounds. Tagged: American Civil War, Famous Commanders, Grant, Union generals Read Full Story