Clik here to view.
ECW on C-SPAN: Edward Alexander
The final segment from the Third Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge will air this weekend on C-SPAN 3. As part of our theme of “Great Attacks,” Edward Alexander looked at the Union...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Petersburg’s Second Presbyterian Church and the Christmas of 1864
Photo courtesy of Urban Scale Petersburg Emerging Civil War is pleased to welcome guest author Mike Wright. The Christmas season of 1864 at Petersburg would never be forgotten by the soldiers who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Head Start to Battlefield Tourism by a VI Corps Carpetbagger
See third paragraph under “Local and State Items.” Jarratt’s Hotel, often misspelled Jarrett’s, was a prominent landmark in antebellum Petersburg, Virginia. James Henry Platt, Jr. was assigned command...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t Impede Edward Ord’s Columns
Major General Edward Otho Cresap Ord, Army of the James (Library of Congress) Edward O.C. Ord commanded the Army of the James at the end of the Civil War. In March 1865 they held the Union position...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Mother At Petersburg
Mrs. Gordon The Confederate lines around Petersburg, Virginia, broke in the first days of April 1865. As Lee’s army headed west into the Appomattox Campaign, Union troops occupied the small city that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mapping the Attack on Fort Mahone, April 2, 1865
The VI Corps assault on the morning of April 2, 1865 unraveled the Confederate earthworks in Dinwiddie County and forced Robert E. Lee to issue orders to evacuate the lines around Petersburg and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Battlefield Markers & Monuments: Gettysburg vs. Petersburg
A veteran Union general reflected on battlefield landscapes, markers, and monuments several decades after the war during a visit to Petersburg, Virginia. There is a peculiar impressiveness about the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Another Courier’s Perspective: William Henry Jenkins and the Death of A.P. Hill
Earlier this week I shared some new information discovered about William Bennett Kirkpatrick, a previously unidentified courier who relayed A.P. Hill’s last message to his Third Corps headquarters on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Symposium Spotlight: Edward Alexander
One of our afternoon speakers for the Fifth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium is Edward Alexander. Our Symposium Spotlight introduces us to this presenter as well as his topic, Grant Crosses the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A.P. Hill’s Death Wish?: The Problem with Using Quotes
Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill rode to his death during the immediate aftermath of the April 2, 1865 breakthrough at Petersburg. Hill sought to meet Major General Henry Heth at the division...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Move at the Sound of the Bugle, …Straight to the Front”
Members of the 2nd Rhode Island The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment formed in June 1861 and fought from First Bull Run through the Appomattox Campaign. By the opening days of April 1865, Elisha Hunt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kill General Lee: A Yankee Officer Opposes Reconciliation
Maurice Leyden (Shared & Spared blog) We’ve all heard the simplified story. Confederate veterans roll up their battle flags at Appomattox and Robert E. Lee charges them with being good citizens as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Greene’s A Campaign of Giants Selected for ECW Book Award
Emerging Civil War has chosen A. Wilson Greene’s A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg (UNC Press, 2018) as the recipient of this year’s ECW Book Award. The Emerging Civil War Book Award...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fighting Rebels and Fighting Fires: The Life of George F. Griffin (Part 1/2)
Sometime around midnight of April 19, 1880, a defective range stove started a fire on the first floor of No. 18, Travers Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. A passing patrolman in the police department...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ending The War: A Union Prisoner on Lee’s Retreat
First Lieutenant Elias Brookings, Jr., 31st Maine Infantry, found himself in an unusual situation at the end of the war. His unit had been overrun during the frantic fighting around Fort Mahone on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lee’s Last Great Field Victory: A Reassessment of Cold Harbor
ECW welcomes guest author Nathan Provost. Between June 4-7, the incessant bombardments by both sides forced the soldiers to create bomb shelters that brought some peace of mind. (Library of Congress)...
View Article“From Son & Brother, The Soldier Boy”: Crossing The James River, Heading For...
In June 1864, the armies gathered at Petersburg, Virginia. For campaign or battle anniversaries, I enjoy finding primary sources or battle reports that I haven’t seen or explore before. Last...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bucklin’s Hospital & Camp: “I scarcely ever even stopped” (Part 13)
In Hospital and Camp, A Woman’s Record of Thrilling Incidents Among the Wounded in the Late War by Sophronia E. Bucklin It’s Week 13 of our read-along with extra historical notes and images. If you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Many Deaths of A.P. Hill
I hope to share more about the story of A.P. Hill’s death at this year’s Symposium. Previous historians and two of the participants themselves have ironed out the well-known event, so I am basing my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The State of A.P. Hill’s Physical Remains
Most of Richmond’s monuments no longer stand where Confederate organizations placed them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Protesters pulled down several, including Jefferson Davis and...
View Article