To the sound of the guns

Zooming with Civil War Talks on January 12

Hope this finds everyone in good holiday cheer. Looking a couple weeks into the new year, the folks at Civil War Talk have invited me to speak for their January 12 meeting. If you are not familiar, Civil War Talk is a lively and well moderated discussion board. They’ve been around since 1999. And at over 2 million messages and over 100,000 threads, there’s something for everyone there. You’ll…

Logistics – A Horse Soldier Perspective

First off, thanks to all who responded to the series of posts last week using the setting of Gettysburg to discuss some of the staff-related activities on the battlefield. Much of that readers have seen or heard before. I just felt compelled to collect those observations into one package. If nothing else, to break the monotony of ordnance summaries. I enjoyed writing those. And from the feedback,…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – North Carolina

Considering December 1863, one year after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, US Colored Troops had become an important, if not essential, component of the Federal war machine. We historians say they’d proven their mettle at places such as Morris Island. However, questions remained in the minds of the more traditional line officers. But none could deny the ever growing number of USCT…

Getting to Gettysburg WebEx Event

Join us on Friday for a discussion of Loudoun in the Gettysburg Campaign

Getting to Gettysburg with Craig Swain

Friday, July 10, 2020  6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

In June 1863, the Union Army traveled northward through Loudoun County on its way to Gettysburg to face the Confederate troops in what would become the biggest battle ever fought in North America. Historian Craig Swain will discuss how…

Gettysburg, Day 4: Horsepower, Hay, and the Limits of Logistics

In the previous post, we established the notion that an artillery battery’s combat power is directly related to the ammunition on hand, and can, theoretically, be expressed in hours and minutes of “staying power” in battery engaged in battle. But such quantifies but one (the last one) of the three questions posed with logistics. What of the resources expended to move supplies and the time…

Gettysburg, Day 3: Cannon Shells and Logistics

Preface: Sorry this is posted a day late. Intended for this to go live yesterday, but was too busy with other matters. Readers, hopefully, will understand… and enjoy the refinement that an additional day of rumination brings.

We hear this quip a lot: Military professionals study logistics! And as my theme in this Gettysburg series of late has been aimed at the importance of staff activities…

Gettysburg, Day 2: The Services Demanded of a Reconnoitring Officer

In my interpretation, the second day of the battle of Gettysburg should be divided into two parts. Most written works and tours will focus on the second of those parts – the actual fighting from the late afternoon into the evening. I will not say that focus is misplaced, as the “event” of the battle itself turned within those precious hours. Stories of valor, alongside those of failure,…

Gettysburg, Day 1: Intelligence and how to get it

“It started as a minor scrap with a few militia. The next thing I know, I’m tangling with half the Union army.”

A lovely line from the book “Killer Angels” and then the movie adaptation “Gettysburg.” General Henry Heth’s summary of the donnybrook his division had initiated on the morning of July 1, 1863.

And most readers are familiar with Lee’s feather-light touch admonishment at that…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – New Jersey

Next we turn to the batteries from the Garden State. Five entries representing the artillerymen from New Jersey:

As the state’s batteries were at times referenced by number, yet at others by letter, I’ll provide both here:

1st Battery / Battery A: At Brandy Station, Virginia with six 10-pdr Parrotts. Captain William Hexamer remained in command.  The battery was with the Fourth…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – Miscellaneous New York Artillery

Below the list of independent batteries are three lines covering returns from formations either outside the listed artillery organizations or under the other branches of service. These are always good stories, often alluding to lesser known aspects of the war:

Examining these three in detail:

99th New York, U.S. Gunboat “Smith Briggs”: Reporting from Fort Monroe, Virginia with one…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – New York Independent Batteries, Part 3

The last dozen in dependent batteries from New York, the 25th through 36th Batteries, feature several story lines which had not played out by the end of 1863. Thus the listing is incomplete and lacking in some respects. And, we see just nine lines:

But we’ll discuss all twelve here in order to fill in the gaps:

25th Battery: No return.  Recall, while in transit to New Orleans in…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – New York Independent Batteries, Part 2

Let us review the fourth quarter statements for the middle dozen New York independent “light” batteries:

I say “light” as while on paper these were indeed light batteries, in actuality not all served as light batteries. We see nine returns processed. All within January or February 1864. Very tidy… relatively speaking:

13th Independent Battery: Reporting from Bridgeport, Alabama with…

The Military Context for Juneteenth

June 19 is the day, and quite possibly will be a day that is marked as a national holiday in future years. That is a good thing. A good thing for many reasons.

From my perspective, I’ve always approached the Civil War as an event with a broader context. Yes, I am a military historian. And my fascination is with the military campaigns and operations. But there is always the underlying truth…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – New York Independent Batteries, Part 1

After a long break, let us resume this line of march. Picking up where we left off with in the New York section of fourth quarter summary statements for 1863. Next up are the independent batteries and miscellaneous lines:

No we won’t try to jump all thirty-six lines at once. Rather in batches, as was our convention, starting with the first dozen:

Of those first dozen, eight…

Virtual Roundtable Meetings – TtSotGs Videos

Like many groups, the Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable’s schedule was disrupted by the response to COVID-19. With face-to-face meetings cancelled through July, we instead turned to virtual meetings as a way to continue our discussions of the Civil War. Nothing fancy to date… and no we haven’t zoomed to Zoom as others have… yet. But we have posted several presentations (by your humble scribe)…

Quite some time since the last blog post. Yes, it was last decade for those of us following the ISO standards for calendars and all. I could blame that on changes with work (being more a “required” attendee on many processes now). Or I could say changes with family, particularly a teenage boy and all the extracurricular activities, has taken away some time. Or I could even point to a…

Summary Statement, 4th Quarter, 1863 – 3rd New York Artillery

Unlike their sister light artillery regiment, the 1st New York, the 3rd New York Light Artillery seldom receives proper attention from historians.  Starting organization as an infantry regiment, and serving as such for the summer campaigns of 1861, the regiment reorganized as light artillery to support operations in North Carolina. And the batteries played an important role in an underappreciated…