Why did Virginia reject secession in early 1861, only to join the Confederacy weeks later? Addresses by Governor John Letcher and his unionist rival, governor of the Restored Government of Virginia, Francis H. Pierpont, reveal how the outbreak of the Civil War divided Virginians over whether loyalty to their state meant leaving the United States…
Continue reading ➞ Letcher and Pierpont on Virginia’s Road to Secession
As secession divides West Point’s cadets, Class of ’61 follows fractured friendships from the academy to the battlefield at Bull Run. But how well does its sprawling fictional drama capture the historical upheaval of the Civil War’s opening months? Written by Jonas McCord, directed by Gregory Hoblit, and produced by Steven Spielberg, Class of ’61…
Continue reading ➞ Class of ’61: Civil War History Lost in a Tangled Drama
In July 1861, Francis H. Pierpont defended the unionist government at Wheeling as Virginia’s lawful authority and denounced secession as a conspiracy that sacrificed the state to Confederate interests. His extraordinary-session address reveals how loyal Virginians made a constitutional, economic, and political case for restoring Virginia to the Union. On June 20, 1861, in Wheeling,…
In July 1861, Henry A. Wise sent Confederate detachments north from Charleston toward Ripley and Glenville. One turned back without a fight; the other traded shots with Ohio troops and briefly drew Union reinforcements away from Rich Mountain. What did the Wise Legion hope to accomplish, and why did both expeditions come to so little?…
Continue reading ➞ The Wise Legion Moves North: Failed Expeditions to Ripley and Glenville
Captain Robert A. Caskie led his Mounted Rangers on a grueling expedition into Gilmer County in July 1861, where they spread alarm among local unionists and skirmished with Ohio troops outside Glenville. This overlooked episode of the Civil War in western Virginia reveals how this small company of Wise Legion cavalry gained its first campaign…
Continue reading ➞ Caskie’s Mounted Rangers in the 1861 Kanawha Campaign
In July 1861, Union troops pushed south from Cumberland into Virginia to secure the vital B&O Railroad corridor around New Creek and Piedmont. Their advance erupted into a deadly clash at New Creek Station, where Confederate cavalry charged a fortified stone house before retreating into the mountains, setting off a pursuit that carried the fighting…
On June 26, 1861, thirteen mounted scouts from Lew Wallace’s 11th Indiana collided with Confederate cavalry near Dan’s Run and Kelly’s Island along the Upper Potomac. What began as a reconnaissance quickly erupted into two savage, close-quarters skirmishes that mortally wounded Richard Ashby, left Turner Ashby wounded, and claimed the life of the first Indiana…
Continue reading ➞ Skirmishes at Dan’s Run and Kelley’s Island
Before dawn on June 19, 1861, hundreds of Confederate soldiers waded across the Potomac River at New Creek, Virginia, intent on driving off Union defenders and destroying a vital B&O Railroad bridge. The daring raid overwhelmed a small band of local Home Guards, severed an important transportation link, and heightened fears that Lew Wallace’s isolated…
In June 1861, Lew Wallace and the 11th Indiana launched a grueling overnight march from Cumberland, Maryland, to surprise Confederate troops at Romney, Virginia, in one of the Civil War’s earliest actions. The resulting skirmish sent Confederate defenders fleeing, left Romney briefly in Union hands, and helped convince Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to abandon Harpers…
In June 1861, future Ben-Hur author Lew Wallace and the 11th Indiana arrived in Cumberland, Maryland, with orders to protect the vital B&O Railroad and secure the Upper Potomac. Within days, Wallace’s restless pursuit of Confederate forces would carry his Hoosiers into Virginia, setting the stage for a dramatic early Civil War campaign whose consequences…
Continue reading ➞ Lew Wallace and the Indiana Zouaves Secure Cumberland
