DOCSLIB.ORG

The Clash of the Blue and the Gray April 6-13, 2013

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Clash of the Blue and the Gray April 6-13, 2013 THE KINKAID SCHOOL and present The Clash of The Blue and The Gray April 6-13, 2013 HOSTED BY KINKAID RETIRED FACULTY JOHN & CARO ANN GERMANN Dear Traveler, Not that long ago, or so it seems, with Frosch Travel’s help I created and escorted an Interim Term trip which trailed the U. S. army’s path across Europe in World War II. Caro Ann told me that there was no way I could turn down the offer to develop that program, given the many years that I have taught the subject in European and American History at Kinkaid. It was one of the best things that I have ever done. She and I have a similar, and in truth an even greater, fascination for the Civil War. It was our nation’s crucible, and from it emerged nothing less than modern America. A love for the military story of that war colored my regular US History classes, not to mention decades of “Blue and Gray” Interim Term courses. Caro Ann shares that captivation with the war; in fact, she and I have visited every one of the major battlefields of that war. So when Kinkaid asked us about a week-long domestic trip for alums and parents to complement an international trip in 2013, the answer was an instantaneous: “How about Civil War military history?” Given the one-week parameter, it made sense to focus on one theater of the war. We chose, no surprise, the Virginia area, which was the key to the conflict from beginning to end. That would mean dealing first of all with a host of Union generals, culminating in one of the mega-generals of the war - Ulysses S. Grant, whose long overdue strategy won the war and preserved the union. At the same time, it meant centering on the Confederate mega-general who spent his life in that state and his entire time in that one theater - Robert E. Lee, consid- ered by many to be one of the greatest military tacticians in world history. To that end we and FROSCH Travel have “hand-crafted” a program to try to capture the essence of the Civil War military experience by focusing on the battlefield engagements involving Lee’s army. A one-week parameter restricted selection of the battlefields. The most obvious omission is the back-to-back Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House engage- ments. However, these battles were massive in scope and are very difficult to grasp. We will certainly discuss them en route. Yet all of the other “biggies” (ten in number) are included, ranging from two Seven Days Battles to the skirmish and dramatic surrender at Appomattox. They are done chronologically in order to get a better sense of the fortunes of the two sides as the war progressed. We have acquired the services of a highly respected guide to lead us through those battlefield sites. To get at least a little sense of what the North was fighting against and what the South was fighting for, we have incorporated visits to Lee’s birthplace, home, and resting place. Please be forewarned that to accomplish all of this makes for a very busy and potentially tir- ing week, as the agenda attests. But ”Civil War Week” will be a very special week – absolutely unique, one to remember, one to brag about to grandchildren or envious friends or anyone who will listen. And all of this while traipsing around northern Virginia by bus in April! To us it doesn’t get much better than this. Caro Ann and I eagerly look forward to having you join us in this exclusive Kinkaid family ven- ture. We welcome any questions that you might have about the trip agenda; please feel free to email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. We must respectfully defer ques- tions about room/board, air, finances, etc. to FROSCH Travel, specifically to Jessica Sussman. Thank you very much… John J. Germann Caro Ann Germann The Kinkaid School GUIDE: JOHN V. QUARSTEIN John V. Quarstein is an award winning historian, preservationist, and author. John has served as the director of the Virginia War Museum since 1978. In addition to these duties, he over- sees the management of the City of Newport News’ historic properties including Endview Plantation, Lee Hall Mansion, Young’s Mill, and the Newsome House as well as serving as the historical advisor for the Mariners’ Museum’s U.S.S. Monitor Center project. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the College of William and Mary, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Quarstein is the author of seven books including Fort Monroe: The Key to the South, C.S.S. Virginia: Mistress of Hampton Roads, Civil War on the Virginia Peninsula, and The Battle of the Ironclads. John V. Quarstein was the recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 1993 President’s Award, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Jefferson Davis Gold Medal in 1999. Presently, he serves on the board of several national organizations including Virginia Civil War Trails and John Singleton Mosby Foundation, and as Chief Historical Advisor for the U.S.S. Monitor. ITINERARY MAP ITINERARY: DAY ONE Saturday, April 6, 2013 En Route/Arlington House & Arlington Cemetery Morning arrivals to Washington (Dulles Airport). Meet coach and historian and transfer to Arlington, VA. Visit the Arlington House and Arlington Cemetery. A welcome dinner is spent along the Potomac River. Continue to Fredericksburg, VA. Overnight: Courtyard by Marriott Historic Downtown Fredericksburg Arlington House Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee and his family for 30 years and is uniquely associ- ated with the Washington and Custis families. George Washington Parke Custis built the house to be his home and a memorial to George Washington, his step-grandfather. It is now preserved as a memorial to General Lee, who gained the respect of Americans both Northern and Southern. Arlington Cemetery ITINERARY: DAY TWO Sunday, April 7, 2013 Stratford Hall Plantation, Gaines Mill & Malvern Hill Day is spent at Stratford Hall Plantation and in Richmond, VA. Enjoy lunch at Stratford Hall. Continue to Richmond, VA for an afternoon at Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill. Return to Fredericksburg, VA for dinner at the historic Inn at Olde Silk Mill. Overnight: Courtyard by Marriott Historic Downtown Fredericksburg Stratford Hall Plantation Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, was the home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia, including two signers of the Declaration of Independence. Robert Edward Lee in was born there in 1807. Gaines Mill In this, the third of the Seven Days’ Battles, General Lee ordered his Army of Northern Virginia to attack Fitz John Porter’s Union Fifth Corps on June 27, 1862. With daylight fading, the newly reinforced Southerners assaulted Porter’s anemic defensive line and sent the Northerners fleeing toward the river. Only the approaching darkness prevented Porter’s corps from complete disaster. During the night, the Federals limped across the Chickahominy and burned the bridges behind them. Gaines’ Mill was the bloodiest of the six Seven Days’ engagements. Malvern Hill In this the sixth and last of the Seven Days’ Battles, July 1, 1862, Lee launched a series of disjoint- ed assaults on the nearly impregnable Union position on Malvern Hill. The Confederates suffered more than 5,300 casualties without gaining an inch of ground. Despite his victory, General George B. McClellan withdrew to Harrison’s Landing on James River, where his army was protected by gunboats. This ended the Peninsula Campaign. ITINERARY: DAY THREE Monday, April 8, 2013 Second Bull Run & Antietam National Battlefields Trail the Second Bull Run and Antietam National Battlefields. Return to Fredericksburg, VA late afternoon for an evening at leisure. Overnight: Courtyard by Marriott Historic Downtown Fredericksburg Second Bull Run A second encounter with the Confederates at Manassas occurred just over a year after the first (August 1862). The Union’s Army of the Potomac, with its newly appointed commanding general, John Pope, fared little better than the first time around. The battle featured a counter-attack by James Longstreet’s wing of 28,000 men in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war, crushing the Union left flank. This was the decisive battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign, and led to the CSA army’s first invasion of the North. Bull Run Antietam National Battlefields On September 16, 1862, Gen. George B. McClellan confronted Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on Union soil at Sharpsburg, Maryland. It became the single bloodiest day in American military history. Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. Lee, how- ever, had to order the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw across the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation followed shortly thereafter. ITINERARY: DAY FOUR Tuesday, April 9, 2013 Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville Enjoy this day in Fredericksburg, VA and Chancellorsville, VA. Continue to Gettysburg, PA, stopping en route for dinner at The Carriage Inn, built in 1836. Overnight: Gettysburg Hotel Fredericksburg In December of 1862, Ambrose P. Burnside, now in command of the Army of the Potomac, ordered an assault on the town of Fredericksburg and on Lee’s army overlooking the town. It resulted in staggering Union casualties. Burnside initiated a new offensive in January 1863, which quickly bogged down in the winter mud. No great surprise, Burnside was replaced in January 1863, by “Fightin’ Joe” Hooker. Chancellorsville At the end of April 1862 General Joseph Hooker led his massive army to face Lee at Chancellors- ville, Virginia.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Preliminary Report of the Battle of the Crater, 30 July 1864
    Holding the Line A Preliminary Report of The Battle of the Crater 30 July 1864 Adrian Mandzy, Ph. D. Michelle Sivilich, Ph. D. Benjamin Lewis Fitzpatrick, Ph. D. Dan Sivilich Floyd Patrick Davis Kelsey P. Becraft Dakota Leigh Goedel Jeffrey A. McFadden Jessey C. Reed Jaron A. Rucker A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE SURVEY OF THE BATTLE OF THE CRATER, 30 JULY 1864 By Adrian Mandzy, Ph.D., Michelle Sivilich, Ph. D., Floyd Patrick Davis, Kelsey P. Becraft, Dakota Leigh Goedel, Jeffrey A. McFadden, Jessey C. Reed, and Jaron A. Rucker With a Contributions by Daniel Sivilich and Dr. Benjamin Lewis Fitzpatrick Report prepared for the Northeast Region Archeology Program National Park Service 115 John Street, 4th Floor Lowell, Massachusetts 01852-1195 _______________________________ Adrian Mandzy Principal Investigator ARPA Permit 2014.PETE.01 2 Abstract In March 2015, faculty and students from Morehead State University’s History program, along with members of the Battlefield Restoration and Archeological Volunteer Organization (BRAVO) conducted a survey of The Crater Battlefield. Fought on 30 July 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg, the Battle of the Crater, according to the National Park Service, is one of the most important events of the Civil War. The participation of African-American troops in the battle and the subsequent execution of black prisoners highlights the racial animosities that were the underpinning causes of this conflict. The goal of this project is to document the level of integrity of any archaeological resources connected with this field of conflict and to examine how far the Union troops advance beyond the mouth of the Crater.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline 1864
    CIVIL WAR TIMELINE 1864 January Radical Republicans are hostile to Lincoln’s policies, fearing that they do not provide sufficient protection for ex-slaves, that the 10% amnesty plan is not strict enough, and that Southern states should demonstrate more significant efforts to eradicate the slave system before being allowed back into the Union. Consequently, Congress refuses to recognize the governments of Southern states, or to seat their elected representatives. Instead, legislators begin to work on their own Reconstruction plan, which will emerge in July as the Wade-Davis Bill. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/states/sf_timeline.html] [http://www.blackhistory.harpweek.com/4Reconstruction/ReconTimeline.htm] Congress now understands the Confederacy to be the face of a deeply rooted cultural system antagonistic to the principles of a “free labor” society. Many fear that returning home rule to such a system amounts to accepting secession state by state and opening the door for such malicious local legislation as the Black Codes that eventually emerge. [Hunt] Jan. 1 TN Skirmish at Dandridge. Jan. 2 TN Skirmish at LaGrange. Nashville is in the grip of a smallpox epidemic, which will carry off a large number of soldiers, contraband workers, and city residents. It will be late March before it runs its course. Jan 5 TN Skirmish at Lawrence’s Mill. Jan. 10 TN Forrest’s troops in west Tennessee are said to have collected 2,000 recruits, 400 loaded Wagons, 800 beef cattle, and 1,000 horses and mules. Most observers consider these numbers to be exaggerated. “ The Mississippi Squadron publishes a list of the steamboats destroyed on the Mississippi and its tributaries during the war: 104 ships were burned, 71 sunk.
    [Show full text]
  • Earthwork Management at Petersburg National Battlefield
    Earthwork Management at Petersburg National Battlefield Dave Shockley Chief, Resource Management Petersburg National Battlefield June, 2000 ******************************************************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS ******************************************************************************************** Acknowledgments…….………………………… i Foreword………………………………………... ii Introduction…………………………………….. iii Map of Petersburg National Battlefield…… iv I. Historical Significance A. Earthworks……………………………………….………………………………… 1 B. Archeological Components………………………………………………………... 2 II. Inventory of Existing Earthworks A. Definitions of Earthworks………………………………………………………..… 3 B. Prominent Earthen Structures…..…………………………………………………... 4 C. Engineers Drawings and Current GPS Maps ……………………………………… 6 III. Management Objective……………………….………………………………………….. 23 IV. Conditions/Impacts Affecting Earthworks A. Preservation of Structures and Features………………………………………….… 24 B. Interpretive Values……………………………………………………………….… 33 C. Sustainability……………………………………………………………………..… 34 D. Visitor Accessibility………………………………………………………………... 35 E. Safe Environment…………………………………………………………………... 36 F. Non-historic Resources…………………………………………………………….. 37 G. Additional Issues…………………………………………………………………….38 V. Fundamentals for Earthwork Management at Petersburg National Battlefield A. Tree Removal……………………………………………………………………… 39 B. Erosion Control……………………………………………………………………. 39 C. Seed Selection……………………………………………………………………… 39 D. Hydroseeding…………………………………………………………………….…
    [Show full text]
  • Cold Harbor to the Crater: the End of the Overland Campaign
    Civil War Book Review Winter 2016 Article 8 Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign Christian Keller Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr Recommended Citation Keller, Christian (2016) "Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign," Civil War Book Review: Vol. 18 : Iss. 1 . DOI: 10.31390/cwbr.18.1.09 Available at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr/vol18/iss1/8 Keller: Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign Review Keller, Christian Winter 2016 Gallagher, Gary W. and Janney, Caroline E.. Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign. University of North Carolina Press, $35.00 ISBN 9781469625331 Fresh Perspectives on an Overlooked Portion of the Overland Campaign At long last UNC Press’s vaunted Military Campaigns of the Civil War series has returned under the careful co-editorship of Gary Gallagher and Caroline Janney. A well-written, well-researched, and topically comprehensive anthology of essays, the book is a fine addition to the scholarship on the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg, and worth the investment of time and money. Moreover, the essays are linked by several common themes that enhance the cohesion and readability of the volume. Advanced and beginning scholars and the informed general public will all gain by perusing its pages. It is not a book for the uninformed public reader. Keith Bohannon, Stephen Cushman, M. Keith Harris, Robert E. L. Krick, Kevin Levin, Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon Rhea, and Joan Waugh wrote chapters along with the two co-editors.
    [Show full text]
  • Petersburg He Gets to the James River
    :':GPO 1979-281-357/21 Reprint 1979 We must destroy this tles. After each encounter. Grant moved farther Army of Grant's before southward and closer to Richmond. Finally, on Petersburg he gets to the James River. If he gets there June 3, at Cold Harbor, 8 miles east of the Con­ NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD • VIRGINIA it will become a siege federate capital. Grant tried by frontal attack to and then it will be a crush the Confederate army and enter the city. mere question of time. R. E Lee He failed in a defeat marked by very heavy The key to casualties. taking Richmond is Petersburg. After Cold Harbor, Grant abandoned, at least for U. S Grant the time being, his plan to capture Richmond by direct assault. Instead, he moved his army to the In a grim 10-month struggle, Ulysses S. Grant's south side of the James River and on June 15 Union army gradually but relentlessly encircled threw his forces against Petersburg. Except for a Petersburg and cut Robert E. Lee's railroad supply series of Union fumbles, the city might well have lines from the south. For the Confederates it was fallen in that attack. Federal commanders, per­ 10 months of desperately hanging on, hoping the haps shaken by the Cold Harbor disaster, failed to people of the North would tire of the war. For press home their assaults, allowing the few Con­ soldiers of both armies it was 10 months of rifle federate defenders to hold on until Lee transferred bullets, artillery, and mortar shells, relieved only his army south from Richmond.
    [Show full text]
  • Battles of Mobile Bay, Petersburg, Memorialized on Civil War Forever Stamps Today Fourth of Five-Year Civil War Sesquicentennial Stamps Series Continues
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts July 30, 2014 VA: Freda Sauter 401-431-5401 [email protected] AL: Debbie Fetterly 954-298-1687 [email protected] National: Mark Saunders 202-268-6524 [email protected] usps.com/news To obtain high-resolution stamp images for media use, please email [email protected]. For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom. Battles of Mobile Bay, Petersburg, Memorialized on Civil War Forever Stamps Today Fourth of Five-Year Civil War Sesquicentennial Stamps Series Continues MOBILE, AL — Two of the most important events of the Civil War — the Battle of Mobile Bay (AL) and the siege at Petersburg, VA — were memorialized on Forever stamps today at the sites where these conflicts took place. One stamp depicts Admiral David G. Farragut’s fleet at the Battle of Mobile Bay (AL) on Aug. 5, 1864. The other stamp depicts the 22nd U.S. Colored Troops engaged in the June 15-18, 1864, assault on Petersburg, VA, at the beginning of the Petersburg Campaign. “The Civil War was one of the most intense chapters in our history, claiming the lives of more than 620,000 people,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in dedicating the Mobile Bay stamp. “Today, through events and programs held around the country, we’re helping citizens consider how their lives — and their own American experience — have been shaped by this period of history.” In Petersburg, Chief U.S. Postal Service Inspector Guy Cottrell dedicated the stamps just yards from the location of an underground explosion — that took place150 years ago today — which created a huge depression in the earth and led to the battle being named “Battle of the Crater.” Confederates — enraged by the sight of black soldiers — killed many soldiers trapped in the crater attempting to surrender.
    [Show full text]
  • HST261 the American Civil War 1848-1865
    WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER COLLEGE BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DIVISION GENERAL COURSE OUTLINE HST 261 The American Civil War 1848-1865 3-0 3 Course Course Course Title Lec-Lab Credit Prefix Number Hours COURSE DESCRIPTION Focuses on the causes, events, and immediate outcomes of the American Civil War during the period of 1848-1865. Political, military, and social history is presented so that students receive a comprehensive understanding of this seminal event in American history. TOPICAL OUTLINE I. Causes and Events Leading to the Civil War A. Why are Americans so Fascinated with the Civil War? 1. How does the Civil War live today? B. Causes of the Civil War 1. The political school of interpretation 2. The economic school of interpretation 3. The “irrepressible conflict” theory 4. The “repressible conflict” theory C. Events Leading to the Civil War 1. Differing interpretations of the Declaration of Independence 2. Differing views on the Constitution 3. The growth of slavery in the nineteenth century 4. The Missouri Compromise 5. The nullification crisis 6. The rise of the abolitionist movement 7. The increase in the proslavery movement 8. The Mexican War 9. The Wilmot Proviso 10. The Compromise of 1850 11. The 1850s: domestic conflict and violence over slavery 12. The publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin 13. Bleeding Kansas 14. The Dred Scott decision 15. John Brown’s raid 16. Abraham Lincoln and the election of 1860 17. The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter II. On the Road to Total War, 1861-1862 A. Advantages and Disadvantages in the Resources of War 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 81.1963.1 Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside 1824-1881 Union County Marker Text Review Report 09/03/2014
    81.1963.1 Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside 1824-1881 Union County Marker Text Review Report 09/03/2014 Marker Text Born in Liberty, Indiana, Ambrose E. Burnside invented the breech-loading rifle in 1856. Commanded a brigade at First Bull Run and the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg. He was commander of the Army of Ohio when Morgan's Raiders were captured. Report This marker was placed under review because its file lacked both primary and secondary documentation. IHB researchers were able to locate primary sources to support the claims made by the marker except for the phrase “Army of the Ohio” to describe the men he commanded when Morgan’s Raiders were captured. The following report expands on the marker points and addresses various omissions, including Burnside’s war-time order suppressing various newspapers and orators and his service as governor and senator from Rhode Island. Ambrose E. Burnside was born in Liberty, Indiana on May 23, 1824.1 He attended West Point Military Academy from 1843-1847 and graduated eighteenth in his class of thirty-eight.2 Burnside, who had been conferred the rank of second lieutenant upon his graduation in the spring of 1847, joined his unit, Company C of the 3rd U.S. Artillery, in Mexico City just after the official battles of the Mexican War had ended. He remained in the Mexican capital until the peace treaty was signed in the spring of 1848 and was then transferred to Fort Adams in Rhode Island. A year later, he returned to Company C, 3rd U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Remnants of the Crater Claire Bickers Gettysburg College
    The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of Civil War Institute History 8-21-2018 The Remnants of the Crater Claire Bickers Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler Part of the Military History Commons, Public History Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Bickers, Claire, "The Remnants of the Crater" (2018). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 296. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/296 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/296 This open access blog post is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Remnants of the Crater Abstract This post is part of a series featuring behind-the-scenes dispatches from our Pohanka Interns on the front lines of history this summer as interpreters, archivists, and preservationists. See here for the introduction to the series. In the final years of the Civil War, the Army of the Potomac laid siege to Petersburg, Virginia. Petersburg was the center of supply for both the city of Richmond and Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and Grant understood that he could cripple the Confederate army by capturing the city. He hoped to end the battle quickly, but through a series of missteps and complicated battle cs enarios, the siege lasted more than nine months—longer than any other Civil War battle.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with A. Wilson Greene
    The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History Civil War Institute 1-30-2018 Debacle at Petersburg: The Battle of the Crater: An Interview with A. Wilson Greene Ashley Whitehead Luskey Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler Part of the Military History Commons, Public History Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation Luskey, Ashley Whitehead, "Debacle at Petersburg: The Battle of the Crater: An Interview with A. Wilson Greene" (2018). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 268. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/268 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/268 This open access blog post is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Debacle at Petersburg: The Battle of the Crater: An Interview with A. Wilson Greene Abstract Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with A. Wilson Greene. Mr. Greene recently retired from a 44-year career in public history. He spent sixteen years in the National Park Service, served as the first director of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the Civil War Trust), and was the founding director of Pamplin Historical Park & the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, where he worked for 22 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Adelbert Ames in the Civil War.” by Michael Megelsh Master’S Thesis: Liberty University Thesis Director: Dr
    “A Mainer From Rockland: Adelbert Ames in the Civil War.” By Michael Megelsh Master’s Thesis: Liberty University Thesis Director: Dr. Brian Melton Second Reader: Dr. Steven Woodworth Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………………………10 Chapter 2………………………………………………………………………………………31 Chapter 3………………………………………………………………………………………61 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...87 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………95 Introduction Surrounded by rough seas and located along the Cape Fear River, Fort Fisher was considered by the destitute Confederacy to be of vital importance to their survival. By early 1865, the salient fortification remained the last gateway between the Confederate States of America and the Atlantic Ocean. Located 18 miles south of the prized city of Wilmington, North Carolina, the formidable fortress had evaded capture while Federal forces held Charleston, Mobile, and every meaningful fortification along the Mississippi River. 1 Its capture would most certainly deliver a severe moral and logistical blow to the weakening Southern armies. Robert E. Lee declared that the fort must remain in Confederate hands at all costs or else he and the Army of Northern Virginia could not endure. 2 The United States War Department and its senior commanders were well aware of the strategic importance of Fort Fisher and the morale which it provided to the weakened Confederacy. In December 1864, 7,000 troops from the Army of the James, under the eccentric Major General Benjamin F. Butler set sail from the Virginia coast eventually joining forces with Rear Admiral David D. Porter and a massive flotilla of 60 warships. 3 Prior to the arrival of the infantry, Porter’s naval command sailed within striking distance of the southern stronghold but failed to force the fort’s defenders to surrender.
    [Show full text]
  • “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Battles and Campaigns
    “BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC” 36 “Battle Hymn of the Republic” broader goal (such as the capture of an en- The Civil War song “Battle Hymn of the tire peninsula in a certain amount of time). Republic” was extremely popular with Such operations, taken collectively, were Union soldiers, who often sang it while called a campaign (e.g., the Peninsula rallying for battle. The tune, however, pre- Campaign). dates the Civil War as an 1856 Methodist Historians disagree somewhat on which camp-meeting hymn titled “Oh Brothers, battles should be included in a list of the Will You Meet Us on Canaan’s Happy most important Civil War conflicts. How- Shore?” by William Steffe of South Car- ever, the most commonly cited major bat- olina. (It is not known whether he com- tles and campaigns are as follows: posed the lyrics as well as the tune.) The Attack on Fort Sumter. On April Shortly after the war began, a group of 12, 1861, the Confederates fired the first Union soldiers in Boston, Massachusetts, shots of the war when they attacked a fed- composed new lyrics that referred to abo- eral garrison at Fort Sumter, located on litionist John Brown, who had been a man-made island in the middle of hanged in Virginia in 1859 for trying to Charleston Harbor in South Carolina; on lead a slave rebellion. To many people in April 14, after a seige of more than fifty the North, John Brown was a hero, and the hours, the fort fell into Confederate hands. Union soldiers’ lyrics called him “a soldier The First Battle of Bull Run (also in the army of the Lord.” This song, called known as the First Battle of Manassas).
    [Show full text]