Civil War Times April 2017

UNFINISHED RAILROAD CUT AT SECOND MANASSAS A handful of man-made topographical features affected the war’s outcome. A great example is “the abandoned grade of the Independent Line of the Manassas Gap Railroad.” CHAMBERLAIN REVEALS THE WAR IN LETTERS HOME Joshua Chamberlain’s correspondence with his wife during the war reveals a man plagued by the human foibles that confound us all. UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE Guerrilla warfare did not play a major role in the military outcome of the Civil War, but that isn’t to say it should be ignored. VISIT SHOP.HISTORY NET.COM LET’S CONNECT Like Civil War Times Magazine on Facebook FOLLOW US @CivilWarTimes GO DIGITAL Civil War Times is available on Zinio, Kindle, and Nook.…

HUZZAH FOR NURSES I enjoyed Chris Foard’s “Nurses’ Poignant Letters” article in the December 2016 issue. It’s nice reading a letter right from the pen of a nurse. Foard chose some fabulous letters with excellent content. I did not realize nurses assisted with the burial of soldiers. Thank you for the education and giving the public a better understanding of the roles nurses played during the war. Dale Rose, Lewes, Del. FROM OUR FACEBOOK PAGE Comments from our recent post about the 69th New York and the Irish Brigade: Glenn Roberts: They were very brave soldiers but that bravery was exploited and their brigade was made expendable by Union Brass at Marye’s Heights. God Bless the Fallen. Joseph Maghe: Meagher’s penchant for the smoothbore musket loaded with buck & ball and his belief in “carrying with…

Six turn-of-the-century paintings depicting Minnesota Civil War regiments will remain on display in the state capitol in St. Paul, following settlement of an October 2016 dispute. During a renovation of the statehouse, the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board recommended relocation of the paintings, supporting a request by Governor Mark Dayton, who felt other artwork would better represent the breadth of the state’s history. The paintings featuring Minnesota regiments at several notable engagements, such as Gettysburg and Vicksburg, had been on display for more than a century. But their proposed removal met resistance, as opponents argued they highlighted the state’s exemplary service in the nation’s worst war. Dayton contended the resistance was driven largely by supporters of another candidate for governor in the 2018 race. According to TwinCities.com, the Minnesota…

ON JUNE 20, 1864, Mathew Brady and his team took several photos, including this one, of Captain Andrew Cowan’s 1st New York Independent Battery inside the siege lines outside Petersburg, Va. The New Yorkers were the new tenants of a sunbaked earthen fort known as Battery 5 that had once been a Confederate stronghold in the Dimmock Line, built between 1862-64 to protect Petersburg. Union troops captured the fort during June 15 attacks on the Dimmock Line. Battery 5, located northeast of Petersburg, was repurposed and the Federal artillerymen moved in on June 18, frequently exchanging fire with “rebel batteries beyond the Appomattox [River],” according to Cowan. This image was taken the day before the New Yorkers hitched up their guns and left for another location. The 1st New York…

CIVIL WAR DRUMMERS deftly executed flams, paradiddles, and rolls on their instruments to play intricate beats that ordered soldiers to assemble in ranks, gather wood and water, and complete myriad camp tasks. Battle’s chaotic din, however, rendered drum calls mostly useless once the shooting started, and drummers were frequently detailed as stretcher-bearers during engagements. At the 1863 Battle of Rappahannock Station, recalled Captain Francis Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania, the drummers were ordered to put down their instruments and, “much against their will,” follow the battle line carrying stretchers. Nonetheless, drums fulfilled an important communication function throughout the conflict. After the war, drums became powerful symbols of camaraderie, and veterans often recalled when their staccato calls roused sleeping camps or energized tired legs during long marches.…

THE CIVIL WAR WITNESSED numerous clashes between Indians and the U.S. Army and territorial military units. Three of the most notable involved the Sioux in Minnesota in 1862-63, the Navajo in Arizona and New Mexico in 1863-64, and a group of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek, Colorado Territory, in 1864. In his multiple-prize-winning Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek (2013), Ari Kelman usefully addresses whether these kinds of events should be considered part of, or largely separate from, the Civil War. He quotes an Indiana soldier writing from Petersburg, Va., in 1865 who, in Kelman’s words, considered Sand Creek “an aberration, a fit of frontier brutality that threatened to diminish glorious achievements hard won during a terrible but ultimately just war.” For Indians looking eastward, in…