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news & features
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02/03/2012 01:01 PM
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The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat
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The American Civil War was the last conflict where both sides predominately used single-shot muzzle loading rifles, yet the technology of the rifle was such improved that historians have largely assumed that the rifles used in the war revolutionized the nature of the conflict. However, as historian Earl J. Hess (and a few others such as Paddy Griffith and Brent Nosworthy) has discovered, though the rifle used during the American Civil War allowed for the potential of increased distance of infantry engagement, the rifle did not lead to any significant chances in engagements. Additionally, and I was taught this in college, the Civil War was not bloodier than past American conflicts because of the rifles. In his The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Realty and Myth, Early J. Hess debunks numerous myths and provides some interesting data and analysis of the war.
Here is a list of some of the ...
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01/22/2012 03:28 PM
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Civil War Letters of Henry H. Twining
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On April 9, 1865, just hours after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and for all practical purposes ended the Civil War, the Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment charged across a hellish field of abatis, snarled debris, and ravines loaded with landmines. Their target was Fort Blakely, Alabama. A needless assault (20,000 against less than 2,000) that took only minutes to complete, cost the Eleventh Wisconsin 61 casualties, and ordered by a general trying to save face for numerous failings.
When the Eleventh Wisconsin was formed in the fall of 1861 outside of Madison at Camp Randall, it would have been hard for any of those Boys of 61’ to imagine that three and a half years later they would take part in the last significant land battle of the war.
Leading up to the assault on Fort Blakely, the Eleventh Wisconsin had traveled some 9,000 ...
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01/08/2012 10:45 AM
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12 Miles from Richmond Soldier’s Letter
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Another letter we were not able to ID the soldier and also a good letter:
In Camp twelve miles from Richmond
May 25
Dear Mother,
I last wrote from West Point. I mentioned this so you may know whether you received all. The papers probably keep you better posted concerning our movement than is possible for me to do as I can know but little of what takes place outside of our division. We went from West Point to Cumberland nearly twenty miles by the road we took. Left camp at an early hour but found after going a short distance that the road needed repairing. It took us until near noon to accomplish this thus leaving only half the time intended for our march. It was an intensely hot day not a cloud to be seen to give us the least respite from the burning sun. The road very dusty.
We marched fifty ...
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01/08/2012 10:42 AM
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Iowa Wife Writes Soldier Husband
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We were not able to enter this into the database without a soldier ID, but it is an interesting letter from home to a soldier from his wife.
Dear Husband,
I mailed a letter to you the morn before I received yours of the 24th but I was so bothered with the baby and the neighbors running in that I did not think of half that I wanted to write so I will try again.
In regard to the wheat that Marsh brought to us, it makes very dark flower and I have not made anything good from it yet he thinks it is the miller’s fault but I don’t. I told him that I was not willing to give him 75 cents. It is more then anybody else gives. Campbell pays 65 cents for first quality. You can do as you please about it. The Trasher thought yo very nice except ...
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12/28/2011 04:31 PM
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Confederate Soldiers during the Gettysburg Champaign, we “made the inhabitants feel the horrors of war”
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Charles J.C. Hutson was with the South Carolina 1st Infantry serving with Major General William Pender of Hill’s Corps, and as they entered Pennsylvania, they traveled on the Turnpike towards Harrisburg. Listening to Hutson describe the march, one would think the Confederates were doing an early version of Sherman’s March:
We entered Penn. with as fine an army as was ever enlisted, lived for some time upon the bounty of that rich country, made the inhabitants feel the horrors of war, frightened the mass of the people and finally fought the battle of Gettysburg, the most severely and hardly contested which I remember.
This letter [from the archive] was written on July 9th, 1863 and Hutson was certainly exaggerating his comrades exploits. Their march into Pennsylvania was obviously no Sherman’s March, but the letter certainly does talk it up. The death and destruction on the Confederates march was minimal with maybe 2 ...
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12/24/2011 12:07 PM
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Letters Home from the Front, Christmas 1862, Such is the Fate of War
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Christmas was often a time of reflection for Civil War soldiers as their hearts and minds fixated on past and more joyous times. In spirit of the Holiday we here at Soldier Studies wanted to share with you some touching letters dealing with Christmas.
Samuel J. Bradlee took pen in hand on Christmas Day (1864) and wrote home to his beloved wife, “Just four short years ago tonight you and I solemnly plighted our faith to each other, for so long as we both should live – you my darling are now far, far away from me in our Northern home.” Continuing his thoughts, he drifted back to those days and his senses came alive, “how swiftly memory brought back the last Christmas Holiday and contrasted it with this – It seemed as if I could almost hear the Christmas Chimes.” Bradless was in the Massachusetts 10th Artillery, was wounded ...
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12/12/2011 02:33 PM
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The Charge of the Heavy Artillery
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[This is one of more thoughtful and provoking reflections by a soldier concerning a battle that I have ever come across while curator for Soldier Studies. This account was published in the "Main Bugle" (January, 1894.) a short lived quarterly publication depicting the exploits and histories of various Maine regiments. The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment took part in one of the most intense and bloodiest engagements you will ever read about. On a stretch of farmland outside of Petersburg, Virginia, the greenhorns (the regiment spent much of its time safe and secure protecting Washington) of the 1st Maine numbering 900 strong made one of the most deadly assaults of the Civil War. Of the 900 brave souls, 632 were casualties, including 210 dead. Here is a first hand account by one of the few who survived. The regiment would go on to lose 1,179 men in 30 days according ...
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Database Statistics |
Correspondences: 1,383
Soldier Profiles: 393
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Soldier of the Moment:
Kellog, Henry C. |
Full Name: Kellog, Henry C.
Home State: Illinois
Allegiance: Union
Unit/Service Branch: 33rd Infantry
Bio: Captain Henry C. Kellogg led Company C of the 33rd...
Read more about Kellog, Henry C.
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Featured Soldier Resource:
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Soldiers on both sides spent much of their time in camp. Some military campaigns followed seasonal changes-battle in the spring and summer, camp in the fall and winter. Daily life in camp included drills and other military duties. Although soldiers complained of endless work and boredom, camp life also provided an opportunity to form friendships, reflect on loved ones at home, enjoy moments of recreation, and engage in spiritual renewal.
Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience
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