An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
In mid-July 1861, just weeks after Virginia’s formal entry into the Confederate States of America, Governor John Letcher issued a sweeping proclamation calling for the mobilization of militia forces in response to a troop requisition from Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The proclamation, dated July 13, targeted specific regions of the Commonwealth: counties north of the…
Continue reading ➞ Organizing for War: Governor John Letcher’s July 13, 1861 Militia Proclamation
Union forces captured several flags at Philippi on June 3, 1861, but accounts vary regarding how many were taken, who they belonged to, what they looked like, and where they are now. One often-overlooked flag belonged to the Bath Cavalry, also known as the Bath Grays, a company raised in the mountainous region of Bath…
In 1905, Congress passed a resolution directing the War Department to return captured Confederate flags to their respective states. The United Confederate Veterans published a record of these flags called The Flags of the Confederate Armies, containing colorized photographs and short descriptions of the units that bore them in battle. Among them was the regimental…
Continue reading ➞ Flag of the First Georgia Regiment (Ramsey’s)
The following account of the death of Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett at Corrick's Ford on July 13, 1861 was written by Henry Clay Wheeler (1841-1924), Company E, 7th Indiana, who claimed to be among the party who fired at the general on that fateful day. It appeared in The National Tribune, a veterans' newspaper,…
A resident of Boonsboro, Maryland, Dr. Alexander B. Rossino earned his PhD in History at Syracuse University. In addition to being a frequent public speaker about Civil War history and regular contributor to Civil War News Magazine, Dr. Rossino is also the author of several books and articles, including Their Maryland: The Army of Northern…
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During the American Civil War, Virginians found themselves divided not only by ideology and geography, but by government itself. From 1861 to 1864, two men, John Letcher and Francis Pierpont, each claimed to be the legitimate governor of Virginia. One led the Confederate state government from Richmond, while the other presided over the Unionist Reorganized…
As Richmond erupted in celebration following Virginia’s vote to secede, one woman watched in silence--troubled, not triumphant. Elizabeth Van Lew's eyewitness account offers a rare, critical perspective on the fevered early days of the Confederacy. On Wednesday, April 17, 1861, at 10:00 a.m., 143 delegates from across the Commonwealth of Virginia gathered in the neoclassical…
The Chesapeake Bay, a defining feature of Virginia's maritime border, stretches approximately 200 miles south from the mouth of the Susquehanna River in Maryland to Cape Henry and Cape Charles, Virginia. It is the largest estuary in the United States, providing an important avenue for domestic and international trade and commercial fishing. The 170-mile long…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_-ygaZqJ6I I recently stumbled upon this amateur video taken at a reenactment of the July 11, 1861 Battle of Rich Mountain in what is today Randolph County, West Virginia. The video features an interview with Phyllis Baxter of the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation and some of the reenactors, as well as footage of the skirmish.…
Continue reading ➞ The Battle of Rich Mountain, Part 1 (1999 Reenactment Video)
Spirit of '61 