An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
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…
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
I'm continuing my effort to add all the papers and telegrams of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who organized the first expedition into Virginia after the outbreak of hostilities, from May to July 1861. Most these new sources pertain to the skirmish at Philippi and the events over the following month. Unfortunately, the primary sources…
Continue reading ➞ More Primary Sources Added from GB McClellan
It's impossible to tell the complete story of the opening months of the Civil War in Virginia without citing the papers and telegrams of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who organized the first expedition into Virginia after the outbreak of hostilities. Most of this correspondence can be found in the venerable tomes of The War…
I started experimenting with adding unit and casualty tables to the battle pages. Here is an example from the Battle of Philippi page: Opposing Forces Virginia (Confederate) Col. George A. PorterfieldUnionBrig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris9th VA Infantry BN1st VA Infantry (Union)25th VA Infantry Regt2nd VA Infantry (Union)31st VA Infantry Regt6th IN Infantry Regt11th VA Cavalry7th…
Welcome to Spirit of '61, an encyclopedia of early Civil War Virginia! This website is a work in progress, and I'll be adding new articles and updating old articles regularly with new information and multimedia. I've created the first few pages based on my previous writing: First Battle of Fairfax Court HouseBattle of PhilippiBattle of…
Spirit of '61 