Stories of the Civil War Volumes 1 and 2 are published and available as free ebooks. Each ebook has 25 stories of the civil war.  Listed below are the table of contents of each of the two ebooks and the download link. Continue reading »

It is a fallacy to believe that the entire Northern part of the United States supported the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln. Copperheads, or Northerners who did not support the war, were a voice of dissidence for much of the war, and no Copperhead was as vocal or dissident as Clement Laird Vallandigham, an Ohio newspaperman and politician.

Born in New Lisbon, Ohio, Vallandigham became a successful attorney who used his success to win election to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1845 and 1846. After moving to Dayton in 1847, he purchased a half-interest in the Dayton Empire. Although he was defeated as a Democrat in congressional elections in 1852 and 1854, he was returned to the House of Representatives after a contested election in 1858. Vallandigham made no bones about his support for state rights, and backed Stephen Douglas in 1860. Continue reading »

When the Civil War began, there was no shortage of able bodied men who volunteered for service in both the U.S. Army and the Confederate Army. Eager to show their patriotism, convinced that their cause would be victorious in a matter of months at the most, men gathered in cities and towns throughout America to form volunteer regiments, clamoring to assist in the war effort.

However, by late 1862 and early 1863, the patriotic fervor that had characterized the war effort early on was wearing thin in both the Confederacy and the United States, and finding men to replenish the armies of both nations was becoming difficult. Those who wanted to serve were already engaged; those who did not had either refused to serve, or, having volunteered and found the experience to be much more arduous than it seemed at first, had deserted or refused to re-enlist. This necessitated instituting a draft to choose men for service, and, in both the North and the South, the practice of hiring substitutes to serve in the place of those who were called and did not want to serve. Continue reading »

If all the pieces had fallen into place, it could have changed the political landscape of American history, if not the world. If the plan would have worked, it could have been one of the most complete political coups in history.

While the assassination of Abraham Lincoln is one of the best known events in American history, it was only one part of a larger plan by John Wilkes Booth that has been largely forgotten, a plan to overthrow the United States government and give the defeated Confederacy the opportunity to shore up their resources and possibly win a war that had already for all intents and purposes ended. Continue reading »

The supporters of the Confederacy found the post-Civil War South a hostile environment indeed. For those of the planter class, the bottom rail was on top. Most were financially ruined by the war. The slaves on whom they had depended to work their land were gone, or, if they stayed, now had the right to be paid wages. Others had no need to worry about slaves to work their properties, because their properties had been seized by the Federal government or lost to creditors. For the men who had served in the Confederate Army as officers, their rights as citizens were stripped.

It is not surprising, then, that as many as 4,000-9,000 of these disenfranchised Southerners took Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil up on his offer to relocate to Brazil and cultivate cotton there, and despite being advised by no less than General Robert E. Lee himself against it, set out for South American in search of what they’d lost to the war. Continue reading »

Feeling that the war was nearing its end, I desired my cavalry to be in at the death.Sheridan on his desire to rejoin the Army of the Potomac

With both Jubal Early and most of the civilians in the Shenandoah Valley still choking on the smoke of “The Burning,” General Philip Henry Sheridan, sensing that the tide of the war was turning toward the destruction of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, took his men to Petersburg, rejoining the Army of the Potomac. Once again the Army of the Potomac would bask in the glory of “Little Phil,” as it was during this stint with the Army of the Potomac that Sheridan’s reputation as a hero was secured, as he managed to bring down not only Jubal Early’s men, but Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, as well.

Sheridan wasted no time resting on his Winchester laurels as he ventured to Petersburg. At the Battle of Waynesboro, he forced 1,500 of Early’s men to surrender. Less than month later, he forced Lee to flee Petersburg. Only days later, at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek, Sheridan dealt Lee a final, crushing blow by capturing almost a quarter of his remaining men. Continue reading »

A brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping.Abraham Lincoln, describing Philip Henry Sheridan

Philip Henry Sheridan, or “Little Phil” as the 5 feet 5 inch tall officer came to be known, came out of relative obscurity toward the end of the Civil War to become one of the heroes of the Union effort. Succeeding where many older and more distinguished men had failed, Sheridan was able to assist in rousing the long-suffering Army of the Potomac into action and help General Ulysses S. Grant to defeat General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Born in New York to Irish immigrant parents, Philip Henry Sheridan grew up in Ohio. In 1848, he began his military career at West Point. His years at West Point were not without controversy; during his third year, Sheridan was suspended for fighting with a classmate whom he’d previously threatened to bayonet. This scuffle, the result of some real or perceived insult to Sheridan, resulted in delaying his graduation by a year. He left West Point in 1853, graduating 34th of 52 cadets. Continue reading »

The divisions in American that resulted in the Civil War were hardly drawn at the Mason-Dixon line. While divisive opinions about slavery abounded throughout the United States, and to an extent the Confederacy, the issue of secession caused more disagreement throughout the South than slavery did. For these “Unionists,” as they became known, whether or not slavery was constitutionally mandated was beside the point - once a part of the United States, there was no turning back, no secession.

Although support for a nascent Confederacy was strong in many of the Southern states during the Secession Crisis of 1860-1861, this support was hardly unanimous. A significant number of Southerners felt that secession was either illegal or unnecessary, of this number, there were those who felt that secession would never truly come to fruition. Others still, those who did not own slaves or perhaps did not support the institution of slavery, were opposed to secession from the Union on the grounds that the inevitable outcome would be a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” Continue reading »

Regardless of one’s personal feelings about the factors that created the Confederacy, it is difficult to deny the accomplishments of the military officers of the Confederacy. No one would argue that Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were not impressive military generals, or that J.E.B. Stuart or P.G.T. Beauregard was not as fine in battle as anyone the U.S. Army had to offer. What, then, accounts for the tarnished reputation of Braxton Bragg, the eighth-highest ranking officer in the Confederate Army who is nonetheless remembered as the Confederate Army’s biggest liability?

Braxton Bragg’s career started off much like those of the other major Confederate military officers. After graduating from West Point in 1837 - fifth in his class - Bragg was commissioned a second lieutenant, and served admirably in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War, where he moved up the ranks quickly. However, he made enemies on his way up; it is rumored that some of the men in his command attempted twice to assassinate him, and once a 12 pound artillery shell was exploded beneath his cot.

Bragg’s querulous nature no doubt played a part in the attempts on his life, and certainly made those who served with him resentful. In 1856 Bragg no doubt relieved many by retiring from the Army to take up the life of a sugar planter in Louisiana, a retirement that came to an early end in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War.

A strict disciplinarian and even stricter interpreter of military rules and regulations, Bragg whipped his Louisiana regiment into shape, over the no doubt loud and lusty complaints of his men, and soon gained the rank of major general. In 1862 he was given command of the Army of Tennessee, and his descent began.

Bragg’s first misstep as commanding general of the Army of Tennessee was a failed invasion of Kentucky. His retreat into Tennessee by way of a circuitous route that took his army through the treacherous pass at Cumberland Gap culminated in an almost-victory at Stones River, which again resulted in Bragg withdrawing his troops and ceding ground to the Union.

By this time the battle-timid, irascible Bragg was becoming unpopular with his men, two of whom, Generals Leonidas Polk and William Hardee, embarked upon a letter writing campaign to have Bragg removed from command. Although this attempt failed, it just the beginning of the insubordination Bragg would face from Polk, Hardee, and others.

As the war in Tennessee moved closer to Union General Rosecrans stronghold in Chattanooga, Bragg began to see the effects of his feud with his subordinates. Generals D.H. Hill and Polk both refused to follow orders from Bragg that could have helped defeat Rosecrans sooner rather than later. However, Bragg and General Longstreet prevailed over Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and Bragg used the victory to divest himself of both Polk and Hill, who were transferred to other units.

But true to form, Bragg refused to pursue the Union forces and run them out of Chattanooga, and the battle within the Confederate ranks began, with the defeat of Bragg the ultimate goal.

The dissent that existed between Bragg and his subordinates was such that Lieutenant General James Longstreet lamented that “nothing but the hand of God can save us or help us as long as we have our present commander.” The brash and outspoken Nathan Bedford Forrest, never one to mince words, told Bragg, regarding his refusal to go after the Union troops after Chickamauga,”you have played the part of a damned scoundrel. … If you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life.”

Bragg’s career as a commanding officer was short-lived after these incidents. He ended up in Richmond as Jefferson Davis’ military advisor, going back into the field to attempt to save Fort Fisher, the last major stronghold of the Confederacy, and nearly losing it to Union General Kinston, as well.

There are historians who would argue that Bragg was a victim of the vociferous complaints of more popular generals who have been widely admired in the years since, or that Bragg’s less-than generous nature, which made him unpopular with his subordinates, has tainted his legacy. While there may be truth to both arguments, the fact is that Bragg simply was not as outstanding a general as Lee, Jackson, or even Stuart or A.P. Hill. In a pantheon of heroes such is the tableau of the Confederate Army, a fair-to-middling officer such as was Bragg is simply outflanked.

If there is any place on God’s fair earth where wickedness ’stalketh abroad in daylight’ it is in the army.” a Confederate soldier, in a letter to his family

General William Tecumseh Sherman’s declaration that “war is all hell” was never more true than when applied to the Civil War. A long, bloody, and tiresome war for those who were pressed into service, the Civil War proved to be so stressful to many that they sought comfort from a bottle. Whether a bottle of whisky or a bottle of opium, drug and alcohol abuse was a fact of life for many during the Civil War era, and that number included several of the most renowned heroes of the war. An often overlooked fact of the war, alcohol and drug use were nevertheless an influential, if sometimes disregarded, factor in the war. Continue reading »