This blog grew out of my "Down Da Road I Go Blog," which was originally to be about stuff I was interested in, music and what I was doing. There was so much history and Civil War entries, I spun two more off. Starting Jan. 1, 2012, I will be spinning a Naval blog off this one called "Running the Blockade."
Friday, December 30, 2022
MCCWRT Discussion Group: Civil War Technology-- Part 1
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
The Good, the Bad & Ugly of Civil War Generals
From the December 26, 2022, Collector "Six famous generals of the Civil War: The Good & the Badad" by Curt Smothers.
How he rated them:
Good and Bad was relative to their military skill. Ugly refers to generals lacking in military skill and undeserving of their rank.
Here they are:
THE GOOD
U.S. Grant & Robert E. Lee
THE BAD
George McClellan & Braxton Bragg
THE UGLY
Benjamin Butler and John B. Floyd
Read the article to see wht he ranked them like that.
--Old Secesh
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Land at Battle of Shepherdstown to be Preserved-- Part 4: Raising Funds
Monday, December 26, 2022
Land at Battle of Shepherdstown to Be Preserved-- Part 3: To become a NPS Site?
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Lee and His Generals-- Part 7: Battle of Gettysburg
At the Battle of Gettysburg, Lee had 3 lieutenant generals and 11 major generals.
The Union had interior lines and high ground (two big pluses) and the Confederates exterior lines. Exterior lines made moving forces much longer.
Gettysburg was the only battle that Lee lost on the battlefield. (What about Antietam?)
Did Stuart let Lee down at Gettysburg? Lee had that coment to Stuart when he finally arrived.
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Lee was only interested in the Eastern Theater of operations, not the Western which is perhaps a reason things went so badly there.
Lee was a gambler, especially when he didn't have a choice.
Next month's topic for discussion group will be The Atlanta Campaign 1864: To Atlanta.
--Old Secesh
Friday, December 23, 2022
Lee and His Generals-- Part 6: Lee Takes Command
Robert E. Lee's first job was as a military advisor to Jefferson Davis and was in charge of coastal defense along the Atlantic Ocean. He went out in public and said that Fort Pulaski was so strong that it could never be captured.
Lee essentially got whipped during the early part of the war in command in what became West Virginia.
In 1862, Johnston was in charge of forces protecting Richmond. Lee was primarily involved in building up that city's defenses. So much defensive work he directed that Lee got the nickname "Old Spades.
Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines. The top Confederate generals in terms of seniority were Samuel Cooper, Albert Sydney Johnston, Lee, Joe Johnston and Beauregard.
Lee took over command of the Army defending Richmond. He found that he could most rely on Longstreet and the two Hills. As for Confederate generals Magruder, Holmes and Huger not so much.
--Old Secesh
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Robert E. Lee-- Part 5: Winfield Scott and Lincoln
Both Winfield Scott and General Wool were quite elderly when the war began. Winfield Scott had been in the War of 1812.
Lee had been in command of troops at Harpers Ferry when John Brown attacked because he was senior officer present. JEB Stuart also there.
One task Lincoln gave Scott was to escort Mary Todd Lincoln to New York City to prevent her from spending too much money.
Scott recommended Lee to be commander of U.S. forces. Lincoln accepted the recommendation and made Lee an offer which Lee turned down because of loyalty to his state, Virginia.
Scott came up with the Anaconda Plan to defeat the South by carving it up and setting a blockade off its coasts.
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Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Davis had an extensive military background and Lincoln didn't. Davis backed his commanding generals regardless of performance. Lincoln did not. They had different perspectives on their generals.
--Old Secesh
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Lee and His Generals-- Part 4: About Robert E. Lee
Monday, December 19, 2022
This Month in the War: 13th Amendment, South Carolina Secedes, Mason and Slidell Released
From the December 2022 American Battlefield Trust calendar.
DECEMBER 18, 1865
** The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, becomes a part of the U.S. Constitution.
DECEMBER 20, 1860
** South Carolina adopts an Ordinance of Secession.
DECEMBER 22, 1860
** Major Robert Anderson evacuates Fort Moultrie and goes to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
DECEMBER 26, 1861
** The U.S. releases Mason and Sliddell, ending the Trent Affair.
DECEMBER 30, 1861
** Banks in New York suspend specie payments.
DECEMBER 31, 1862
** The Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, begins.
--Old Secesh
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Lee and His Generals-- Part 3: William Henry Chase Whiting
He was at Fort Fisher when it was captured by Union forces on January 15, 1865, and wounded. Taken to Fort Columbus on Governor's Island in New York Harbor as a prisoner, he was recovering from the wound when he contracted dysentery and died March 10, 1865, becoming the highest ranking Confederate officer to die in a Union prison.
He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in New York City, but his widow Kate had the body exhumed in 1900 and sent to Wilmington, North Carolina's Oakdale Cemetery.
One of W.H.C's brothers was Major Jasper Strong Whiting who died of scarlet fever December 25, 1862.
Another brother was Robert Edward Kerr Whiting was later in charge of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.
--Old Secesh
Friday, December 16, 2022
Lee and His Generals: William Henry Chase Whiting-- Part 2
Continued from Dec. 4. These were from the July McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Table Discussion group.
Whiting was very much involved in the defenses and action around Charleston Harbor in March and April 1861.
He, however, got in trouble with Confederate President Jefferson Davis for declining the command of a brigade of five Mississippi regiments. Further problems came for his being very outrspoken about his superiors' shortcomings as he perceived them.
Whiting was at the Seven Days battles after which Lee replaced him and assigned him to the military district at Wilmington, North Carolina.
Promoted to major general in February 1863. After that, he briefly tookover the defense of Petersburg in May 1864.
--Old Secesh
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets This Saturday, Dec. 17: Topic Is 'The Beginning of the End: Dec. '64 & Jan. '65'
The McHenry (Illinois) Civil War Round Table will meet this Saturday at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois, from 10 am to 11:30. We will be in the side room.
This month's topic is "The Beginning of the End: December 1864 and January 1865." We will be talking about anything that happened in those two months and somewhat guarantee we will keep on topic. (Well, sometimes.)
Someone might have something to say about the two battles of Fort Fisher which took place then.
Panera Bread is located at US Highway 14 (Northwest Highway) and Main Street.
Come On Down! --Old Secesh
Monday, December 12, 2022
Land at Battle of Shepherdstown Preserved-- Part 2: The Battle, September 19-20, 1862
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Land at Battle of Sherpherdstown to Be Preserved
This article is of particular interest to me since I wrote a lot about this little-known battle earlier in the year.
From the November 25, 2022, Shepherdstown Chronicle 'Save the Battlefield': Civil War location to be preserved, thanks to National Park Service grant" by Tabitha Johnston.
Last Friday, the National Park Service announced that it would be awarding a $1.9 million American Battlefield Protection Program Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant to the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, so the organization can use it to preserve more than 200 acres of the Civil War battlefield.
According to Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association President Michael Nickerson, the preservation of a 121-acre farm has been the recent focus of his organization's Save the Battlefield campaign.
Great News. --Old Secesh
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
81st Anniversary of Pearl Harbor: Herbert Jacobson-- Part 3: His Parents Married on December 7, 1919
"My grandmother [Mabel], who lived to be 84-years old, never really could get a handle on her son being identified as MIA and presumed dead," Brad McDonald [nephew] said.
"It was really hard on her. ...The day, Dec. 7, and the name Bert were kind of lost to her forever. It was a double whammy for her. The final irony is we are burying Bert on September 13, which was my grandmother's birthday."
Brad McDonald's mother, Norma, was very close to her brother Bert. In fact, it was Bert who introduced Norma to her husband and Brad's father, Orville "Mac" McDonald, also a member of the U.S. Navy. The two sailors had met while training together at Naval Station Great Lakes, and Bert brought Orville home for a visit.
"Without Bert, I wouldn't be here, Brad McDonald said. "He played Cupid."
Bert Jacobson arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, at the age of 21, only 57 days after finishing his training at Great Lakes. He was on duty the night before the attack and believed to be sleeping aboard the ship when the attack took place.
"He may have died before he even knew there was a war going on," McDonald said. "Of course, there's no way to know that."
Continued in my Down Da Road I Go blog.
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
War of 1812 Veteran Fights at Battle of Gettysburg: John Burns
I have been writing about him in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog last month and this month.
He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and Mexican War and had tried to assist the Union cause in the Civil War, but had been turned down because of his age.
But then, the war came to him in a big way and he took full advantage of it to serve.
Quite a character and worth a read, so go to the blog. You can get there by clicking on the My Blog list to the right of this.
--Old Secesh
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Lee and His Generals: William Henry Chase Whiting
He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, the son of Lt. Colonel Levi Whiting. I haven't found it written anywhere else, but he was most likely named after his father's commander, William Henry Chase (1798-1870).
Friday, December 2, 2022
This Month in the War: 13th Amendment, Battles of Prairie Grove, Fredericksburg and Nashville, USS Cairo Sinks
From the December 2022 American Battlefield Trust calendar.
DECEMBER 6, 1865
** The 13th Amendment ratified, officially abolishing slavery.
DECEMBER 7, 1862
** Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.
DECEMBER 11, 1862
** Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, begins.
DECEMBER 12, 1862
** USS Cairo sinks in the Yazoo River, Mississippi.
DECEMBER 15, 1864
** Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, begins.
--Old Secesh
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Preservation at the Battle of Fredericksburg
From the December American Battlefield Trust 2022 calendar.
FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA
259 acres saved.
The preservation of the"Slaughter Pen Farm" on the Fredericksburg Battlefield in Virginia, ranks as one of the most significant and expensive acquisitions of hallowed ground in the history of the Trust and its presevation partners.
This spread of farmland was highly threatened by development, but the Trust was not about tolose the site that witnessed a bloody charge by some 4,000 Union troops during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862!
The Trust and its pivotal partners have saved 259 acres at Fredericksburg.
--Old Secesh