James Johnston Pettigrew was the quintessential southern cavalier. Born into fortunate circumstances, this North Carolinian pursued activities that developed his mind as well as his character. Finishing first in his class at the University of North Carolina, Pettigrew taught, wrote poems, and traveled in Europe, carefully noting in his diary the similarity of the Old South to romantic Spain and Italy. Upon returning home, he became a successful Charleston lawyer, militiaman, and when the time came, an ardent secessionist. The men who worked with Pettigrew, and later knew him as a soldier,...
James Johnston Pettigrew was the quintessential southern cavalier. Born into fortunate circumstances, this North Carolinian pursued activities that de...
Admiral David Farragut eyed a potentially lethal minefield guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama, as his attack column of ironclad monitors rushed forward, opening the assault against the Confederate citadels on shore. One vessel, the USS Tecumseh, looked every inch an invincible monster. As the sleek, turreted warship drew close to its Rebel enemies, a geyser of water shot up on its starboard side followed by a muffled rumble. The ship heeled over and sank in seconds, carried to its watery doom by its own war-speed and momentum. Crewmen aboard the rest of the Union ships looked on in...
Admiral David Farragut eyed a potentially lethal minefield guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama, as his attack column of ironclad monitors rus...
Civil War scholars and buffs alike have long differed on the turning point of the war. Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, to name but a few, have garnered attention as turning points. Seldom do the names of Forts Henry and Donelson enter the argument. But as prolific military historian Spencer C. Tucker points out, the capture of these river bastions in Tennessee became the first important Federal victories of a war still in its infancy.
From the beginning Union leaders devised a plan to capitalize on their command of America's waterways as a means of dividing and conquering the...
Civil War scholars and buffs alike have long differed on the turning point of the war. Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, to name but a few, have...
In the fall of 1864 after his triumphant capture of Atlanta, Union Gen. William T. Sherman mobilized 62,000 of his veteran troops and waged destructive war across Georgia, from Atlanta to Savannah. Unhappy with the killing and maiming of Union and Confederate soldiers in combat blood baths. Sherman decided on purposeful destruction, hoping to insure fewer casualties while helping bring the war to an end as quickly as possible. He repeatedly promised Southerners that he would wage a hard war but would tender a soft peace once the South stopped fighting. The general was true to his word on both...
In the fall of 1864 after his triumphant capture of Atlanta, Union Gen. William T. Sherman mobilized 62,000 of his veteran troops and waged destructiv...
Early 1862, Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis drive Confederate forces led by Brigadier General Sterling Price out of Missouri and into Arkansas. The Confederates, now representing combined forces under General Earl Van Dorn, Commander of the Trans-Mississippi District, counter-attack and strike Curtis's isolated Union army at Pea Ridge in March 1862. Despite being outnumbered and almost surrounded, the Union army wins a stunning victory. Nine months later, a new Confederate army under Major General Thomas C. Hindman tries again. At Prairie Grove in early December, a furious...
Early 1862, Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis drive Confederate forces led by Brigadier General Sterling Price out of Missouri and int...