Civil War Times October 2021

WEEK OF WAR 16 critical decisions that altered the course of the 1862 Seven Days Campaign. https://bit.ly/WeekOfWar GRANT’S GREATNESS In Vicksburg, the Union general learned how hard fighting and logistics could win the war. https://bit.ly/GrantsGreatness BREAKING BARRIERS The rise and fall of Martin Delany, the U.S. Army’s visionary first black officer. https://bit.ly/MartinDelany HISTORYNET Now Sign up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter at: historynet.com/newsletters 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 A Complete Civil War Times index from 1958 to present is available at historymagazinearticles.com TROIANI, DON (B.1949)/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES…

Congratulations to Scott Fink for the outstanding feature in the August 2020 issue, “Fight for the Colors,” which demonstrates the savagery of the combat waged in the Wheatfield by the 62nd Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. The article brings to mind an image in my collection of Private William H. Dunn of the regiment (right), who was killed in action during this struggle. A letter in his pension file from a sergeant in the outfit states that William was killed instantly while on the skirmish line when the 62nd went back into the Wheatfield for the final time. The sergeant’s letter also disclosed where young Dunn had been buried on the field, so that the family could venture from its Pittsburgh home and retrieve his remains. Will was only one of 11…

For more than 150 years following the death of Union Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds at Gettysburg, the fate of his fiancée, Catherine Hewitt, had been shrouded in mystery. Famously, Kate Hewitt had pledged to join a convent if Reynolds, above left in a prewar image, was killed in battle and indeed fulfilled her vow in the fall of 1863 by joining the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Md. But what happened to her after she left that community on September 3, 1868, and moved to Albany, N.Y., remained uncertain until 2020 when dedicated research by historian Jeff Harding and genealogist Mary Stanford Pitkin revealed facts about Hewitt’s final years and burial location Harding and Pitkin learned that upon leaving Emmitsburg, Hewitt taught school as a nun in Albany until leaving…

FIVE YEARS AGO, Vicksburg native Charles Pendleton and his wife decided to take on a project that resulted in the Vicksburg Civil War Museum, which opened in May. Exhibits include Pendleton’s collection of weapons and uniforms. Displays also include a representation of a slave cabin and a scale used to weigh cotton. Pendleton states, he wants to “offer to people… a slave’s life and a Black soldier’s life. We weren’t given freedom; we earned it through fighting. There are very few Civil War Museums from a Black perspective, and our goal was to give that perspective, but not our opinion.” The museum, located at 1123 Washington St., is open M-F 10-6, and Sun 12-6.…

A FULLY EQUIPPED U.S. artilleryman paid an unknown photographer to heavily tint his image, making it blaze with vibrant color. He wields a .36-caliber Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver and a Model 1840 light artillery saber. He also displays two pieces of 19th-century male fashion that are now all but extinct: a watch fob and a pinky ring on his right hand. But the most unique item present is the artilleryman’s regulation Model 1864 artillery shako, which seldom appears in period photography. The numeral “1” is present on the shako, below the eagle and above the crossed cannon insignia. The 1864 Artillery shako had a wide leather brim and a leather top but the body was a cone of pasteboard covered by blue flannel. Brass ring fittings on the side…

Arlington House Revisited Arlington House, the former estate of Robert E. Lee’s family, now owned by the National Park Service, recently reopened after a seven-year, $12.5 million restoration and reorientation. The new Arlington House amplifies the home’s history to include the experiences and contributions of more than 100 enslaved people who lived, worked, and died at the estate. The renovation also invites visitors to consider differing perspectives on the character, career, and decisions of Robert E. Lee, who managed the 1,100-acre Arlington Plantation, which his wife, Mary Custis Lee, had inherited from her parents. Manassas Parcel Campaign The American Battlefield Trust is raising donations to buy a 3.5-acre parcel near the Sudley Church on the Manassas National Battlefield Park. The site figured at the battles of both First and Second Manassas (Bull Run)…