Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (1828-1900) was something of a renaissance man. Born in Canada to American parents, Cox attended Oberlin College and later became a lawyer. He moved with his wife, Helen Clarissa Finney, to Ohio where he became a state senator. During the Civil War, he was a brigadier general and led the famed…
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Six More Engagements Added
I'm now tracking 27 separate engagements in Virginia prior to the First Battle of Bull Run, and I've completed stub pages for all but four. Information is hard to come by for some of these and fully researching them will be difficult. The new pages are: Skirmish at New CreekSkirmish at Middle Fork BridgeSkirmish at…
Illustration of Thomas A. Morris
Brig. Gen. Thomas Armstrong Morris (1811–1904) was a civil engineer from Kentucky who led a brigade under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the Northwest Virginia Campaign. Morris graduated from West Point in 1834 and served as an artillery officer. When the Civil War broke out, he became quartermaster general of the Indiana state militia.…
Illustration of George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia and graduated from West Point in 1846. He fought in the Mexican War, and his father was close friends with Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, who would become overall commander of U.S. forces at the outbreak of the Civil War. McClellan's services were highly sought after, but Ohio Governor…
Pages for Several Engagements Added
My goal this month is to at least publish a stub page for every Civil War engagement in Virginia prior to the First Battle of Bull Run. Each page will contain a short description and a map to where it was fought. I am tracking 20 separate engagements from May 7, 1861 to July 17,…
Battle of Blackburn’s Ford Page Added
The Battle of Blackburn’s Ford was fought on July 18, 1861 between Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler and Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. James Longstreet in Prince William and Fairfax Counties, Virginia during the American Civil War. The battle, a prelude to First Manassas, was a Confederate victory and resulted in…
Illustration of Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett
For many years, photos of Robert S. Garnett were often mistaken for those of his more famous cousin, Richard Brooke Garnett (1817-1863), who was killed in Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg. The existing images and illustrations (at least available online) leave something to be desired. Like many early-war Confederate officers who didn't go on to win fame, these images are grainy and low resolution.
More McClellan Sources
When it comes to military operations in Virginia prior to the First Battle of Manassas, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was most prolific in his writings. McClellan was commander of the military Department of the Ohio, which made him responsible for the first large scale operation in what was then western Virginia. So far, I've…
Updated Illustration of Col. George A. Porterfield
Last week, I commissioned an illustration of Col. George A. Porterfield, who commanded Confederate forces at Philippi. You can view the results here. The illustration was decent, but not quite what I had in mind. I decided to go back and find a different illustrator. I'm glad I did! What Maul22 came up with was…
Continue reading ➞ Updated Illustration of Col. George A. Porterfield
Illustration of Col. George A. Porterfield
Eventually, I intend to include profiles of the personalities central to the early Civil War in Virginia in this encyclopedia. Unfortunately, more than a handful didn't go on to win much fame, so finding quality contemporary photos or illustrations of them is difficult. I decided to hire an artist to create illustrations of these individuals…
Continue reading ➞ Illustration of Col. George A. Porterfield
Spirit of '61 