The Civil War « History Rhymes

16Sep/090

Article by General Sherman on his ‘Grand Strategy’ of the Civil War

Another blog I regularly follow pointed me in the direction of a very interesting article written by General William T. Sherman about his 'Grand Strategy' of the Civil War. It's interesting to read Sherman's take on it about two decades after it actually took place.

I know this post is a bit short, but unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of time to write more at the moment. Future posts will be longer and more informative.

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12Sep/090

Free Civil War and Reconstruction Lectures from Yale

The other day I stumbled upon a website called Academic Earth. The purpose of the website is to provide free lectures on various subjects from the leading universities in the US. I very eagerly browsed through their history section and ran across a series of lectures by Professor David W. Blight from Yale University about the American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction afterwards. The videos on the site include the entire course. I intend to watch every one of the lectures which are quite detailed and are about 45 minutes long each.

Tagged as: Lectures, Reconstruction, Videos No Comments

24Jul/090

Wilson’s Creek Battlefield

View from the Ray House

As you've already read from the last post, I recently returned from a trip to Missouri. I saw the houses of the James brothers and I also took a day trip down to Springfield, MO and visited the Wilson's Creek battlefield where one of the first large battles of the Civil War took place.

The grounds where the battle took place are now preserved as a national park. There is a visitor's center at the entrance to the park and there is a short movie which introduces what happened at this particular location. I will try to give a brief overview of what the film discussed.

Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon

The battle that took place at Wilson's Creek was one of the first major battles of the Civil War. It took place in August, 1861 in the fields a short distance from Springfield, Missouri. The fields belongs to John Ray and his family. John Ray was a local farmer who raised corn, cattle and horses. Most of the battle would take place on his property.

Benjamin McCulloch

The battle began when Nathaniel Lyon -- a Union staunch Brigadier General who worked until his death in battle to keep Missouri in the Union -- led his troops to a Confederate camp in Wilson's Creek. The Confederate forces were headed by Benjamin McCulloch. Lyon was fatally shot in the battle and became the first General killed in the war. When Lyon's body was found, it was brought back to the Ray house and placed in a bed there. The battle ended with a Confederate victory after the Union retreated, but McCulloch's forces were unable to take advantage of their victory because they had lost too many men in the battle.

Cannons from the Wilson's Creek Battlefield

When the battle began, John Ray's sons were out tending to their horses. A messenger rode past and warned the boys to get home because something bloody and horrible was going to happen soon. They rushed home and consequently the whole family along with their black maid and her children hid in the cellar until the battle was over. The Ray house was used as a hospital during and after the battle.

At the battlefield today, there is not a whole lot to see. It is mostly just fields you can look at with plaques explaining what happened there. The origina Ray family farm house is still there however and is open to the public. Below are some photos I took of it both inside and out.

The Ray House from the front

The bed where General Lyon's body was lain inside the Ray house.

A spindle inside the Ray House.

A desk in the Ray House.

The kitchen in the Ray House.

The cellar into which the Ray family fled during the battle.

The website for the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield is http://www.nps.gov/wicr. If you are ever in or near Springfield, MO, it is definitely worth a visit.

Tagged as: Battlefields, John Ray, Missouri, Wilson's Creek No Comments

14Jun/090

Interesting little-known Civil War trivia

CNN is running an interesting article with seven little-known trivia facts about the Civil War. I will list the seven facts below, but for more details about them, take a look at CNN's article.

Lincoln's first solution to slavery was a fiasco

Hungry ladies effectively mugged Jefferson Davis

The Union used hot air balloons and submarines

"Dixie" was only a northern song

Paul Revere was at Gettysburg

Mark Twain fired one shot and then left

The armies weren't all-male

Again, the article with more details is here.

Tagged as: Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Slavery, Trivia No Comments

13Jun/090

Large Collection of Old Photos

Today I stumbled upon a website with quite a large collection of old photos from the 19th century and really early 20th century. The site contains several collections, including a Civil War collection and an Old West collection.

A couple of my favorites come from the Civil War collection and are posted below:

President Lincoln at Antietam

I really like this photo of President Lincoln at Antietam because shows Lincoln in a semi-private moment which is a rarity among the photographs taken of President Lincoln during his presidency.

Gallows

I suppose I like this one for more morbid reasons. Perhaps because it shows a darker side of the war.

In any case, I would take a look through the collection of old photos, located here: http://www.old-picture.com. There is also a blog that goes along with it that I would also take a look at.

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14May/092

Remains of Civil War Solider Found

The remains of a Civil War Union Solider were found in Franklin, Tennessee by work crews digging a sewer line. Here is the full article:

FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- Construction crews digging a sewer line made a historic discovery in Franklin on Thursday.

While digging near a Burger King restaurant at the corner of Columbia Pike and Southeast Parkway, the body of a Civil War Union soldier was uncovered.

The remains of the soldier were found scattered in a 2-foot grave.

Curators and historians from the Carter House and Lotz House arrived at the location to analyze the body. Bones and well-preserved buttons were recovered from the site.

State archaeologists will take the remains to a lab and then have them reburied.

An estimated 2,000 soldiers were killed in the Battle of Franklin, which took place in November 1864.

The original article.

Tagged as: Soldier, Union 2 Comments

11Mar/090

Last photo of Lincoln before his death?

Lincoln seems to be in the news a lot this week. Today CNN is reporting that a new photograph of Lincoln has emerged that is believed to be the last taken before his assassination in 1865. It was discovered in a photo album belonging to General Ulysses S. Grant's great-great grandson, Ulysses S. Grant VI.

Last Photo of Lincoln?

Here is a portion of the article:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An expert on Lincoln photography thinks a photograph found in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's family-owned album showing President Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House could be one of the last photos taken of the 16th president before he was assassinated in 1865.

A photo found in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's family album is verified to contain an image of Abraham Lincoln.

Grant's great-great grandson Ulysses S. Grant VI had seen the previously unpublished image in the general's personal photo album, but didn't think much of it until he scrutinized it earlier this year.

"I started to think that it might be the White House," said Grant, a construction business owner from Springfield, Missouri. "Then I started to look at the height difference between the people in the photo."

Thinking that the towering individual commanding the attention of the other people in the image could be Lincoln -- who stood 6-foot-4 and is the nation's tallest president -- Grant called Keya Morgan, a renowned collector and scholar of Lincoln and Gen. Grant photographs, to see whether his suspicions could be verified.

Morgan, who owns the world's largest collection of Lincoln artifacts and original photographs, persuaded Grant to take the small photo out of the album to see whether any clues could be found on the back -- particularly the name of the photographer.

"If you don't know who the photographer is, it's like not knowing who your father and mother are," Morgan said.

Sure enough, the seal of photographer Henry F. Warren appeared on the back, along with an inscription: "Lincoln in front of the White House," dated 1865. Grant recognized the handwriting as that of his great-grandfather and Gen. Grant's youngest son, Jesse Grant. Those indicators, along with a revenue stamp used from 1864-66 to raise money during the Civil War, helped convince Morgan that the photograph could be the well-documented missing photo from Lincoln's last "sitting."

You can read the here.

Tagged as: Abraham Lincoln No Comments

10Mar/090

Message found hidden in Lincoln’s pocketwatch

Message in Lincoln's Pocketwatch

I found a really interesting news article on CNN about a message left to President Lincoln on the inside of his pocketwatch by a watchmaker who was repairing it at the time Fort Sumter was attacked. Here is the article:

A long-hidden message has been discovered inside Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, the Smithsonian's Museum of American History announced Tuesday.
The message in the watch differs slightly from what the watchmaker later said he wrote.

The message in the watch differs slightly from what the watchmaker later said he wrote.

Watchmaker Jonathan Dillon was repairing Lincoln's watch in April 1861 when he heard about the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and wrote a short message on the metal inside the watch, the Smithsonian said.

There it remained, unseen for almost 150 years, it said.

In a 1906 interview with The New York Times, Dillon reported that as soon as he heard the news about the first shots of the Civil War, he unscrewed the dial of the watch and wrote on the metal, "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

The actual message that the museum found differs from the watchmaker's recollection. It says, "Jonathan Dillon, April 13-1861, Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon, April 13-1861, Washington, thank God we have a government, Jonth Dillon."

According to the Smithsonian, it was not unusual for professional watchmakers to record their work inside a watch.

"Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket," said Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History.

The museum decided to open the watch after being contacted by the watchmaker's great-great-grandson, Doug Stiles, who had heard about the message Dillon said he had inscribed and wanted to see if it was really there.

Tagged as: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Fort Sumter, Pocket Watch No Comments

2Nov/080

New Worlds For All

This semester I am taking a survey class of US history up to 1865. For that class, I just finished reading a book entitled New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America by Colin G. Calloway.

New Worlds for All

The book itself was actually quite interesting. Calloway discusses how the world not only changed for the Europeans who came over to the Americas, but also how life changed for the natives who had already been here for centuries. From my experience, I can say that most Americans tend not to even consider the Native American viewpoint on the European invasion on their lands.

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