An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
Kevin Donovan has posted an excellent and meticulously researched article over at the Emerging Civil War blog on Virginia's secession crisis and the "Spontaneous People’s Convention." In those heated days in April 1861 before voting to secede, fire-eaters plotted and nearly executed a violent coup to force Virginia out of the Union. Click the link…
In 1861, Trans-Allegheny Virginia was a landscape of hills and mountains cut by rivers like the Kanawha, Little Kanawha, Tygart, Cheat, and Greenbrier. The region consisted largely of small towns and subsistence farms, with limited industry beyond coal mining, salt works, and a nascent iron trade. The first oil wells were drilled on the eve…
Continue reading ➞ Revised Map and Overview of the Ohio Front
As the first general officer killed in the Civil War, the death of Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett at Corrick’s Ford on July 13, 1861 has remained a subject of discussion for over 160 years. As veterans of the conflict aged, a controversy emerged not only over who fired the fatal shot, but also regarding…
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
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,…
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…
In June 1861, just weeks after Virginia’s secession from the Union, Governor John Letcher issued a fiery proclamation to the people of Northwestern Virginia—a region increasingly resistant to Confederate alignment. His message was clear: the time for debate was over, and unity under the Confederate cause was now a matter of duty and survival. John…
Continue reading ➞ Governor Letcher’s 1861 Call to Arms: Uniting Virginia for the Confederacy
When a brief Civil War skirmish near Alexandria left two men dead, its aftermath sparked outrage on both sides. A Virginia woman’s diary captured the moment in gut-wrenching detail. Before sunrise on the morning of Sunday, June 30, 1861, a brief but deadly clash unfolded just southwest of Alexandria, Virginia, where Confederate scouts encountered Union…
Continue reading ➞ Account of the Action at Pike’s Creek in the Diary of Anne S. Frobel
Fifty-eight. That’s how many days passed between the Union Army crossing the Potomac River into northeastern Virginia and the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run). During those nearly two months, the Union and Confederate armies shadowboxed in that corner of Virginia, hampered by undisciplined and inexperienced soldiers while probing for enemy weaknesses. The exact number…
In the tense opening days of the Civil War, a single gunshot would mark the first true casualty of battle—but whose name deserves that grim distinction? Between riots, duels, and chaotic skirmishes, the first soldier killed in action is a title claimed by many, but only one truly fits the definition. Because of its proximity…
Continue reading ➞ Who Was the First Civil War Soldier Killed in Action in Virginia?
Spirit of '61 