tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.comments2014-08-28T11:34:04.695-04:00Living in the PastUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-91208128443625158062014-08-28T11:34:04.695-04:002014-08-28T11:34:04.695-04:00The photo is a rare find! I've been looking fo...The photo is a rare find! I've been looking for a photo of the Gassandi for a while now and I was very pleased to find this. Could you tell me what the source is (it isn't in the NYTimes article) or where I might find the original? Thanks-<br />-AndreeaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-89358026318683226042013-05-21T12:57:12.003-04:002013-05-21T12:57:12.003-04:00I am especially interested in the 2nd Louisiana at...I am especially interested in the 2nd Louisiana at Second Manassas and the regiment's location(s) on August 30.<br />New Mexico Guy<br />eecheney@reagan.comNew Mexico Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10843136211736661665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-31550223651902645322012-09-03T16:39:05.319-04:002012-09-03T16:39:05.319-04:00The Pennsylvania Regiment in the Brigade was the 2...The Pennsylvania Regiment in the Brigade was the 26th PA, not the 28th PA.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-38659868683701077502012-06-09T19:44:18.419-04:002012-06-09T19:44:18.419-04:00Wow. A failure of Imagination on the part of Union...Wow. A failure of Imagination on the part of Union leadership. We see what we want to see. Look forward to the next posting.Nancyhttp://www.capitolcoaching.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-73397136202785841082012-03-23T10:26:28.801-04:002012-03-23T10:26:28.801-04:00Thanks, Ron. I find myself more and more excited a...Thanks, Ron. I find myself more and more excited about the troops leaving for the Peninsula, so that there will be more space to look at these obscure corners. And, of course, the rise of Mosby....Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-5358837884550005452012-03-23T10:25:25.570-04:002012-03-23T10:25:25.570-04:00Neil, if you want to leave me a link to the book i...Neil, if you want to leave me a link to the book in the comments I'm happy to take a look at the previews and see if I can work something in.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-23054441130570913322012-03-22T22:09:54.151-04:002012-03-22T22:09:54.151-04:00Great account, once again, and thanks for the comp...Great account, once again, and thanks for the compliment. If readers look at your posts and mine, they will gain quite an understanding of the Army of the Potomac around DC in March 1862. I really enjoy exploring this more obscure history that is so overshadowed by the Peninsula Campaign on the one end, and First Bull Run on the other!Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-18542604753619264512012-03-22T14:53:45.841-04:002012-03-22T14:53:45.841-04:00Great blog.
One of my clients is publishing a boo...Great blog.<br /><br />One of my clients is publishing a book next month on the Great Debate of 1850. How can I get it out to you to consider for a possible review?<br /><br />Neilneilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05492216347609931799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-71428980817937468182012-03-18T10:23:46.529-04:002012-03-18T10:23:46.529-04:00Thanks! When you look at Old Town today, it's ...Thanks! When you look at Old Town today, it's hard to think of it as a center of military mobility at all, much less one for the largest field army the United States had ever created up til that time. And this account is just one division of that army.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-82300197659771987882012-03-17T19:41:52.327-04:002012-03-17T19:41:52.327-04:00Great account! I was just in Old Town this morning...Great account! I was just in Old Town this morning, and couldn't help but think back to what was happening in and around Alexandria 150 years ago. The movement to the Peninsula was one amazing feat to say the least, even with the glitches. (Re-post to correct typo!)Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-74783854156014671402012-03-17T14:16:01.701-04:002012-03-17T14:16:01.701-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-84076257664989883052012-02-07T11:04:49.207-05:002012-02-07T11:04:49.207-05:00L.D.H. Currie has an interesting epilogue. He only...L.D.H. Currie has an interesting epilogue. He only stayed on Baldy Smith's staff for about another month after this incident, after which he went to New York and recruited the 133rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment in New York City (Staten Island and Brooklyn). When it was completed, in September, Currie was named its colonel, and led it through some forgotten (for good reason) campaigns in Louisiana. His path will briefly cross ours again when the 133rd is transferred to Washington to meet the threat of Jubal Early in 1864.<br /><br />When the war ended, Currie returned to England and lived there into the 20th Century. When he died, his obituary was run in the New York Times.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-75494003287300953082011-11-16T22:05:23.871-05:002011-11-16T22:05:23.871-05:00Yes, it's definitely not that sharp. The artis...Yes, it's definitely not that sharp. The artist decided to show off his skill at drawing rather than reproduction, and it's quite possible he wasn't ever on the scene. The proximity of a river and the background and a good road along the lone peak, and Union troops marching down that road, suggest that he was probably illustrating a scene taking place just to the south of Strasburg, if he had a place in mind at all. <br /><br />The Valley Pike didn't [and Route 11 doesn't] bend that close to the south end of Massanutten and the river isn't that big nearby. On the other hand, the placement of the river, the road, and the mountain in the illustration are fairly close to their real placement south of Strasburg, which also happened to be an important crossroads. <br /><br />The weak link to that theory? Strasburg was still firmly in Confederate hands in November 1861.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-55553276048114189452011-11-13T11:42:09.057-05:002011-11-13T11:42:09.057-05:00I like the view of Massanutten and wonder if you c...I like the view of Massanutten and wonder if you can identify where the artist was standing. I learned in Gettysburg and Manassas that standing in the terrain gave me more understanding of strategies. I remember Massanutten as being long, but not that sharp!Capitol Coachinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03682895891655562430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-25258682616278715692011-10-12T12:00:48.091-04:002011-10-12T12:00:48.091-04:00Thanks for the thoughtful reply SP, I think the di...Thanks for the thoughtful reply SP, I think the distinctions between the South's strong desire to have states together and the Unions more nonchalant 'put them together as they show up' are very relevant.ATPatrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13868589470586291094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-35309000465453500542011-10-12T09:38:27.023-04:002011-10-12T09:38:27.023-04:00ATPatrick, the Confederate government at its very ...ATPatrick, the Confederate government at its very highest levels was obsessed with the idea of brigading together regiments from the same state and placing them under a native of that state (and even create a division, as in the case of Mississippian Earl Van Dorn’s two Mississippi brigades commanded by Mississippians, proposed above). As we shall see, it becomes an obsession of Davis’, but reading between the lines I believe that is less because he and other leaders in Richmond like the idea and more because Johnston more or less ignores him.<br /><br />On the Union side, there was no such pressure by the National leadership (despite some grumbling by Members of Congress). Scott and McClellan barely cared, and Secretary of War Cameron was taxed to the limit of his limited abilities just mustering in and supplying the new regiments as they came in. Consequently, Union regiments tended to be brigaded together as they arrived, with only a few switching because of problems with their pre-McClellan commanders (http://livinginthepastdc.blogspot.com/2011/08/hell-reigns.html).<br /><br />But that doesn’t mean that state brigades were not common in the Union armies. The Army of the Potomac in October 1861 contains some of the most famous examples: Dan Sickles’ Excelsior Brigade (New York), Phil Kearny’s New Jersey Brigade, Sam Starr’s New Jersey Brigade (which came to be known as the Second, with Kearny’s as the First), “Baldy” Smith’s Vermont Brigade, Innis Palmer’s brigade of New Yorkers, which somehow failed to make up a nickname for itself, Thomas Francis Meagher’s Irish Brigade (not only New York City residents, but all first or second generation Irish), and Edward Baker’s California Brigade (all but two companies were from Philadelphia, pretending to be from California – it would win fame renamed as the Philadelphia Brigade). And, perhaps most famously, there was the three brigades of Pennsylvanians grouped together in McCall’s Division, known as the Pennsylvania Reserves (http://livinginthepastdc.blogspot.com/2011/09/aiming-too-high.html).<br /><br />What the Union brigades have in common is that, with the exception of Baker’s “Californians” and Meagher’s Irish, the regiments in those brigades were recruited together and mustered in together, brigades from the beginning. What Davis wanted to do, was to tear apart the units that the Confederates had had for months and switch their positions around so that each would be together with a new brigade.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-71327966200032212842011-10-12T09:36:48.361-04:002011-10-12T09:36:48.361-04:00View a facsimile of McClellan's message to Lin...View a facsimile of McClellan's message to Lincoln about the coming attack here:<br />http://civilwarvisions.blogspot.com/2011/10/coming-or-going.htmlShermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-60965707485212446692011-10-11T12:12:16.336-04:002011-10-11T12:12:16.336-04:00In regards to the issue Davis brings up about rest...In regards to the issue Davis brings up about restructuring the troops by states: did the Union also insist on putting troops together by state? I know this is usually the case but was wondering if in the case of Davis it was because of the individuality of the states in the Confederacy.ATPatrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13868589470586291094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-66516140529738898232011-09-30T22:03:25.790-04:002011-09-30T22:03:25.790-04:00You may want to talk with James Barber, who wrote ...You may want to talk with James Barber, who wrote "Alexandria in the Civil War." He appears to be one of THE experts on the war in Alexandria. Perhaps the Lyceum has his contact details?Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-45026389649442219912011-09-30T00:22:09.962-04:002011-09-30T00:22:09.962-04:00Thank you for stopping by. Duffey is pretty fascin...Thank you for stopping by. Duffey is pretty fascinating, there's lots of good stories floating on the internet, but few that I can source to anyone. He pops up from time to time in Fighting for the Confederacy and always with great feeling. I'd like to get in touch with someone who knows Alexandria history a little better to get a longer rundown on the Duffey family, who run throughout a great deal of Alexandria's history.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-83027089181477431382011-09-28T22:15:31.243-04:002011-09-28T22:15:31.243-04:00Thanks for the compliment and glad you are enjoyin...Thanks for the compliment and glad you are enjoying the posts over at my blog. <br /><br />Your post uncovers a really interesting side of what was happening during the “picket war” after First Manassas and fits nicely with my recent stories of the Confederate side during this time period! The Confederates certainly had supply issues, and Porter faced a daunting challenge in getting the Southern Army of the Potomac up to par. Field commanders still had problems with procuring ordinance despite Porter’s best efforts. Longstreet, for example, couldn’t get all the guns he needed for Munson’s and Mason’s Hills, and ended up substituting stovepipes for canon. (Of course, it is not entirely certain if this was due to shortages, or to Johnston’s worries about committing to the advanced line dug in around Falls Church.)<br /><br />I hadn’t read about Duffey, but what a colorful character. I take it that Porter discusses him at length in his memoirs?Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-44863295138998796502011-09-11T20:12:06.752-04:002011-09-11T20:12:06.752-04:00Thanks for the shout out, and great account of Lew...Thanks for the shout out, and great account of Lewinsville. I particularly like your analysis concerning what happened on the Confederate side in the lead up to the skirmish.Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-5011820716098847172011-08-06T00:30:53.541-04:002011-08-06T00:30:53.541-04:00Thanks, glad you enjoy! I often rue the decision t...Thanks, glad you enjoy! I often rue the decision to torch the Confederate records in Richmond, as well as the overall smaller amount of personal correspondence to equal what we have for the formation of the Army of the Potomac. Between his prolific writing, fierce personality, and decision to abscond with all of his papers, McClellan is a gift to historians of the North.Shermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-43400511885574143992011-08-05T22:16:10.097-04:002011-08-05T22:16:10.097-04:00Thanks for the compliment. I am also enjoying you...Thanks for the compliment. I am also enjoying your blog--don't know how you have time to write so prolifically! <br /><br />Last year when I started my blog, I spent a lot of time on the Union Army from September 1861-March 1862, so I suppose it was time to look at the Rebs!Ron Baumgartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12449787740945022061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897992565045541681.post-27756225013551441232011-07-29T23:02:49.327-04:002011-07-29T23:02:49.327-04:00Hey, this guy really likes Eppa Hunton:
http://mad...Hey, this guy really likes Eppa Hunton:<br />http://madnessmike.blogspot.com/2007/11/general-eppa-hunton-another-forgotten.htmlShermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07155361439404842794noreply@blogger.com