Thoughts On History
On the general subject of Confederate monuments, I’ll start by saying that I prefer that monuments be relocated rather than destroyed, and interpreted in an appropriate context, and that monuments on places like battlefields are generally appropriate. A statue of Stonewall Jackson on a National Park site where he fought a battle is an example … Continue reading Confederate Monuments: History?
While doing some reading just today, I stumbled across a citation to the ORs dealing with the aftermath of the Battle of Westport, in reference to some quarrel between Maj. Gen’ls Samuel R. Curtis and William S. Rosecrans. I have quite a bit of interest in Curtis and more than a passing one in Rosecrans, … Continue reading Controversy in the West: “It is a fearful thing to accuse a man… Of being a traitor to his flag.”
Partly out of idle curiosity, I was going through the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, the main primary source for the Civil War in terms of official reports and correspondence.. Particularly, I was going through correspondence in early 1864, curious to see some of the process of Ulysses S. Grant planning and … Continue reading Grant, Sigel, and Ord: The Valley and West Virginia, 1864
The question was recently asked, of a large number of notable American Civil War historians, what would have changed if Stonewall Jackson had been at Gettysburg? http://www.civilwarmonitor.com/analysis/extra-dossier-stonewall-jackson The general consensus was that Jackson would not have changed much, or that the way in which his presence would have changed things is not the one … Continue reading Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg
Probably the greatest controversy specifically concerning the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg revolves around the perceived failure of the Confederate army to follow up on their early success after they drove the Army of the Potomac’s First and Eleventh Corps out of their positions north and west of the town and back through … Continue reading Controversies of Gettysburg – “Give me a regiment and I’ll take that hill!”
The anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg recently passed. One of the most notable of the many controversies and historical debates surrounding the battle concerns the role of the Army of Northern Virginia’s cavalry commander, J. E. B. Stuart. Famously, before the battle, Stuart took the army’s cavalry for a raid into Union territory that … Continue reading Controversies of Gettysburg – J. E. B. Stuart’s Ride
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant was accused by Mary Lincoln and some Northern newspapers of being a “butcher” for the casualties incurred by the Overland Campaign of 1864. It’s a charge that was taken up by former Confederates and later members of the “Lost Cause”, who sought to portray a South that outfought the foul … Continue reading The Butcher: Grant or Halleck?
The Battle of Westport was the largest engagement west of the Mississippi River in the Civil War, sometimes referred to as the “Gettysburg of the West”. In September, Sterling Price had launched an invasion of Missouri. All his units were mounted, as the infantry units intended to support him had been sent elsewhere, turning … Continue reading The Gettysburg of the West
Recent events prove that the country at large, and especially people in the South, need to have a serious conversation about the origins and nature of the Confederate States of America. Those who fly the flag, put it on their bumper stickers, support the presence of the CSA flag in front of state capitals, most … Continue reading Heritage and Hate
Following the battle for Spotsylvania Court House, Ulysses. S Grant and George Meade’s Army of the Potomac had shifted around Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia again and moved south. Lee managed to reach his preferred defensive location of the North Anna River, and stood just to the south of it. Realizing … Continue reading A Trap At The North Anna River?
Breck O'Donnell 
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